Hadrian Potter: The Lightning Thief
by dhairyasood748
Summary: After defeating the basilisk, Harry learns something from Dumbledore that was rather shocking to say the least. How wil he take to a whole new world with gods and demigods and monsters? Read and find out! Demigod! Harry
1. Shocking news and Camp Half-Blood

**Hello readers, this is my first fanfic. Please be generous and review and tell me what you think.**

**Okay, so this going to be a "harry potter son of artemis" fanfiction. **

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP or PJATO.**

**-Line Break-**

Opening a drawer on his desk Dumbledore retrieved a small brown sack which jingled when he placed it down on the mahogany surface and opened it revealing several gold coins inside. After waving his wand and muttering an incantation, a fine mist shot out of the tip like steam from a boiling kettle, instead of disappearing like steam does it settled over his desk.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering," Dumbledore chanted before casting a single gold coin into the mist which disappeared with a golden shimmer.

"United States, Long Island, Camp Half Blood, Chiron," Dumbledore recited as if reading an address off an envelope.

The mist shimmered and suddenly Dumbledore was looking into a room with wooden walls, Dean Martin music filled the air and a man with a brown beard sitting in a wheelchair was seen reading a book. The man didn't seem to notice Dumbledore looking at his through the magical window that had opened in thin air.

"Chiron, my old friend," Dumbledore called to get his attention.

Chiron looked up from his book startled and noticed him for the first time, he smiled and placed the book down.

"Albus, good to see you again, if you've called to see if I have any new information I'm afraid I've still had no luck, the only monster I can find that petrifies is Medusa but her petrifaction is full stone," Chiron stopped as Dumbledore held up a hand.

"The matter has been resolved, the monster is dead, turned out to be a Basilisk," Dumbledore explained.

"A Basilisk!" Chiron asked, stunned. "I've never heard of a Basilisk's gaze petrifying anyone."

"It seems that everybody who has been petrified looked at it indirectly. In a reflection, through a camera lens," Albus explained.

"Indeed? I assume you used a Rooster to kill it?" Chiron asked.

"Unfortunately not, that's why I've called you, the Basilisk was killed by Harry," Albus said gravely.

"That's not good, after killing a monster that powerful his scent will be overwhelming," Chiron muttered, almost to himself.

"Yes, which is why I can't send him back to his relatives… it's time for him to go to camp," Dumbledore said almost sadly.

Chiron looked uncomfortable.

"Chiron, we don't have any choice, Harry's true nature has started to reveal itself. Earlier this year he was attacked by an entire colony of Acromantula despite Hagrid's request that they don't harm my students… Harry won't survive the summer at his relatives. From now on he'll continue to attend Hogwarts throughout the year but he must spend the Summers at Camp Half-Blood. It's where he belongs."

"I hope you're sure about this Albus, once he's in camp there's no turning back, he'll fully embrace who he is and the monsters will never ignore him," Chiron warned.

"It's too late for that, Harry killed the Basilisk with this," Dumbledore said as he lifted a sword into view, it was silver, had jewel embedded in the hilt and the word Gryffindor engraved along the blade which was stained with black blood. Chiron grimaced.

"Goblin silver?" he asked.

"Yes, when Harry killed the Basilisk with this, it was the equivalent of him ringing a gong announcing his presence to every monster within five hundred miles. The beast was killed just over an hour ago and already the wards around the castle have alerted me to a pair of Lethifolds trying to get into the grounds and a Kelpie has appeared in the lake."

"Very well…" Chiron said with a sigh, "If you can arrange transport to New York I'll have a protector escort him the rest of the way."

"No need for that, I'll transport him directly to Half-Blood Hill. Thank you Chiron." Dumbledore said.

**-Line Break-**

"So, cliff notes, the Greek Gods are real, they sometimes have children with mortals, these children are called Demigods and I'm one of them?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

"There's a summer camp in America where Demigods go for training in how to survive and you want me to go there instead of Private Drive?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

Seeing Harry's discomfort Dumbledore sat forward.

"Harry, I don't know who your Godly parent is, but I can tell you that Lily Potter was pregnant with you so we can assume it was a male god, I can also tell you that James knew you were a demigod and he still loved you as his son," Dumbledore said kindly. Harry blinked away a few tears and replaced his glasses.

"So, when and how do we get there?" He asked.

I have a portkey already made to take you to take you to the camp." Dumbledore explained.

"What's a portkey?"

"It is a form of magical transportation, it can transport you from one place to another almost instantly." Dumbledore explained and Harry nodded in understanding.

"You're free to use magic in America," Dumbledore revealed.

"Wha-But-" Harry started, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"The underage restrictions don't exist in America, that's the land where the gods have the highest power. The Americans know better than to try and impose laws in their home territory. Also, don't worry about the muggles seeing you, America has a magical force called the Mist which prevents them from seeing magic and other divine and supernatural things." Dumbledore explained, already knowing what he had to ask.

Dumbledore could see the excitement on the boy's face.

"Sir, are you a Demigod?" Harry asked.

"Yes, a son of Hecate to be precise." He answered.

"Hecate?" Harry asked curiously.

"Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic and patron goddess of all Witches, Wizards, Wiccans and Warlocks." He explained.

"She's our patron? But I never heard anyone even mentioning her, not even the purebloods…." He said confused.

"Oh, most of the purebloods refer to her as Lady Magic or Mother Magic. Work of the Mist, I guess.

Anyway, it's almost time." He handed Harry an old marble.

"Okay, your trunk is already with Chiron at camp. Be responsible with your magic, Harry. Goodbye." And Harry was whisked away in a swirl.

**-Line Break-**

Harry felt like a hook had attached itself to his navel and was pulling him. After ten seconds or so, the pulling stopped and he fell flat on his face.

"Is there any form of magical travel after which I won't fall flat on my face?" He wondered out aloud.

He got up and looked in front of him. He had landed on the bottom of a hill. On the top was a pine tree.

Harry began going up the hill. It was kind of a forest, so he was able to do it faster than usual. He had always felt stronger in the forests and on nights of the full moon. He could swear that the one or two unicorns he saw in the forbidden forest had bowed to him. He didn't know why, of course.

Once, he made it up to the pine tree, he could see the camp. Then, suddenly a wave of exhaustion took over him and he dropped to his knees and lost consciousness.

**-Line Break-**

Harry slowly woke up with the taste of treacle in his mouth. He was laying on a soft bed, above him was a girl with blond hair and stormy grey eyes. She was holding a bowl of some kind of porridge.

"W-Who are you?" Harry mumbled, his throat felt dry and raspy.

"Don't try to talk. You were lying unconscious by the pine tree when Argus brought you in, you need to rest," the girl said before spooning some of the porridge into his mouth, Harry lost consciousness again as he swallowed the treacle flavor porridge.

When Harry awoke again he was laying in a hammock on a porch of a large farmhouse. Harry looked up and found himself looking over a green meadow, the smell of strawberries filled the air.

Harry groaned as he felt his throbbing head.

"Might I suggest drinking that," a man said as he pointed at a glass of golden liquid on a small table next to Harry, also on the table was his shrunken trunk and wand. The man had a scruffy beard, thinning hair and wore a tweed suit, he was sat in a wheelchair.

He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip, he almost recoiled, with the color of the liquid he'd been expecting apple juice, but the liquid tasted like butterscotch, just like a drink Mrs. Weasley had given him last summer, Butterbeer.

"What happened? The last thing I remember is seeing the camp from beside the pine tree and then dropping down…" He said.

"Let's just say that you became a victim of an instant exhaustion spell from one of the Hecate kids while he was practicing his magic." He winced. "Oh, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself." He wheeled forward and held out a hand.

"I'm Chiron, Activities Director here at the camp," he introduced himself as Harry took his hand.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied.

"Please, walk with me Mr. Potter," Chiron turned around and wheel towards the corner of the farmhouse, Harry followed him after pocketing his trunk and wand.

As Harry and Chiron reached the other side of the farmhouse Harry suck in a gasp of astonishment. A valley stretched out in front of him and a large river, the Long Island sound he guessed, about a mile away. From this viewpoint Harry could see most of the came, the landscape was dotted with several Greek buildings, an open air pavilion, an amphitheater, an arena, there was also a volleyball court, an archery range, stables surrounded with winged horses, a lake with several canoes and a group of smaller buildings all different colors and placed in a way that shaped an inverted 'U'.

"It's always like that the first time you see it," a girls voice said, Harry turned and saw the blond girl who'd fed him treacle porridge when he first woke up, she was stroking a familiar white owl.

"Hedwig!" Harry said with a smile.

Hedwig spread her wings and flew to him, landing on his arm.

"You ok?" Harry asked her while stroking her.

Hedwig let out a little screech and nipped at the white bandage around his wrist.

"I'll be fine," Harry assured with a smile.

The girl smiled at the interaction between Harry and Hedwig.

"Harry this is Annabeth, she looked after you while you were sick," Chiron introduced.

"Thank you," Harry said with a smile, Annabeth answered with a shrug.

"It seems to be all I'm doing these days," she said in an annoyed tone confusing Harry.

"Another Demigod arrived here a few days ago injured when the Minotaur attacked him, Annabeth nursed him back to health too, he woke up a few hours ago," Chiron explained.

"Now, let's get you settled into the camp, Annabeth, if you would show Harry to cabin eleven please?" Chiron asked. Annabeth nodded and gestured to Harry to follow her.

"Oh and Harry," Chiron called to get his attention.

Harry turned back to Chiron to see him standing up out of his chair, only he was leaving his legs behind, as if the chair was magically expanded a horses body emerged from the wheelchair and stepped forward with Chiron's upper body attached to it where the head should be, Chiron was a Centaur.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

**-Line Break-**

After showing Harry all the cabins, Annabeth led him to the Hermes cabin. He had felt a strong pull towards the Artemis cabin, it was almost like this was where he was supposed to be. When Harry asked if Artemis ever had any children, Annabeth looked at him as though he had grown a second head and then explained that Artemis was a maiden goddess and therefore had sworn to forever remain a virgin and hence had no children.

The Hermes cabin looked like a regular summer camp cabin. The threshold was worn down with brown paint peeling off, above the door was a wined pole with two snakes wrapped around it making Harry a little nervous.

The cabin was packed with people, both boys and girls, there were bunks beds along the walls and the floor was covered with sleeping bags.

"Regular or undetermined?" someone shouted from the back of the cabin shouted, Harry couldn't tell who.

"Undetermined," Annabeth answered, the entire cabin groaned.

Someone stepped forward who looked older than the others, he kinda reminded Harry of Oliver Wood. He was almost 19, had short sandy hair and a thick white scar running from under his right eye down to his jaw.

"Two in one day, huh? I'm Luke," the boy said as he held out his hand, Harry took it immediately.

"Harry," he replied.

"Luke will be your counselor, until you're determined," Annabeth told him.

"What do you mean 'until you're determined'?" Harry asked, using air-quotes.

"Each cabins belong to one of the twelve Olympians, kids are live in the cabin belonging to their parent, this is the Hermes cabin" Luke explained.

Harry's eyebrows raised as he turned and looked at the small sea of kids in the cabin.

"Hermes has been busy," Harry muttered making Luke snort.

"Nah, we don't know who's kid you are yet, hence 'undetermined'. All the undetermined kids stay in the Hermes cabin 'cause he's the god of travelers. Your dad might send a sign claiming you as his kid and then you can move into his cabin, until then you'll stay here." Luke explained.

'Might', this word stuck in Harry's mind, many of the kids here looked like they'd been there for a long time.

Annabeth took Harry back outside to the common area.

"So, what do think of the camp so far?" Annabeth asked.

"It's great, but I can't help but feel like this is all a dream. Gods, giant snakes, guys covered in eyes… then again I thought the same thing two years ago when I started Hogwarts," Harry answered.

"Hogwarts, the magic school right? Chiron told me about it," Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I started there when I turned eleven, I'm gonna be spending most of the year there and summers here," Harry said with a smile.

"Won't you miss your family?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Harry said without a moment's hesitation, "Not even in the slightest." Harry said it in a way that made it clear to Annabeth that he didn't want to speak about it.

They approached a boy who was sitting by the lake, several long haired girls were waving at him from the lake like he was an old friend, the boy waved awkwardly back at them.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth told him as they approached, "Naiads are terrible flirts."

The boy turned to face them, he had black hair and green eyes like Harry but that's where the similarities ended.

"Harry, this is Percy Jackson, he's the other camper who recently arrived," Annabeth introduced them. "Percy, this is Harry Potter."

Harry and Percy quickly hit it off, they were both new to the camp so they could understand how strange and new the camp was. The three slowly walked back up to the cabins common area talking about how strange the camp was, they were interrupted by a loud husky voice.

"So, two newbies, huh?" they all turned to see a big, tough looking girl with long, stringy brown hair. She wore an orange 'Camp Half Blood' t-shirt that Harry had seen many of the campers wearing and a camouflage jacket. She was flanked by four other girls all as big and mean looking and dressed in camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure Miss Princess, so I can run you through with it Friday night." the girl replied with a sneer.

"Who're the runts?" she asked.

"Harry Potter, Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

"Like… like the war god?" Percy asked.

"Got a problem with that?" Clarisse asked with a sneer.

"No, it explains the bad smell," he replied cockily.

The Ares girls rushed forward, but Harry was faster. He drew his wand quickly and shot a _Rictumsempra_ at one of them and she fell to the ground laughing. Another one rushed forward, and this time Harry shouted "_Locomotor Mortis_!" and her legs snapped together and she fell flat on the ground.

Harry shot the Full-Body-Bind at both of them and the '_levicorpus_-ed' them leaving them both hanging upside-down in the air unmoving.

"Try that again and I'll do a lot worse than that," He said, malice dripping from his voice.

He looked around for Percy or Annabeth , but there was no sign of either of them.

That's when he heard the sound of some kind of a explosion from the… toilets, maybe?

Harry went in the direction of the sound to find Clarisse and two other Ares girls, dripping wet, going out past him.

He looked inside.

On one side, Annabeth was standing, and she too, was dripping wet, saying, "How did you…" Then she shook her head, and said, "Nevermind," just as Percy reached them.

He was completely dry.

They went outside and that's when Annabeth noticed the two Ares girls hanging upside-down unmoving.

"Who did that?!" She cried shocked.

"Me," Harry answered calmly. Percy promptly burst out laughing. He patted Harry on the back and said between laughs, "Good one, man. They deserved it."

"Damn right they did." Harry said with smile of his own.

They both looked at Annabeth to find her staring at both of them.

"What?" Percy asked. "What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking… that I want you both on my team for capture the flag."

**-Line Break-**

**Okay, so first chapter done. Huzzah. Again, same request; first fanfic, please be generous and review.**

**This story was inspired by another story named, 'Harry Potter the Olympians: Tides of War'. You will a lot of texts similar.**

**So, bye for now, readers! Stay tuned on 'Son of the Huntress' to find out what happens next.**


	2. Very Shocking Heritage and Gifts

**Hello again! Second Chapter. Woo-hoo!**

**Thank you SoulfulKarma668, CAD270895, and 3 Guests for your reviews. I very much appreciate them.**

**CAD270895: Glad to know you like it. As for wanting more, well, here it is.**

**Well, ChronosMoon, simple words: DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!**

**Guest 1: I'm not thinking about pairings right now in this story. In the sequel (yes there will be one for PoA and Sea of Monsters; although PoA will have some changes) maybe.**

**Guest 2: I don't know about gods... But at least a monster will react that way. As for gods, I don't really know when to do it. When Percy goes to Olympus in TLT, there are only Zeus and Poseidon in the Throne Room. In this story Harry will go with Percy to the throne room. Any suggestions are welcome, though.**

**Guest 3: I'm really glad. You know, first fanfic, I need encouragement, and positive reviews give me just that!**

**Onward to the story!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP or PJATO.**

**-Line Break-**

"Cabin Eleven, fall in!" Luke shouted to the entire cabin in response to the conch horn that had sounded seconds ago.

Everyone followed Luke out of the cabin and up to the pavilion along with the other cabins, a dozen Satyrs, and Wood Nymphs that seemed to melt out of several of the trees. For the first time Harry saw all of the campers, there were maybe a hundred of them.

The pavilion glowed in the sunset, each pillar held burning torches, in the center was a roaring fire in a brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had their own table, covered in a white cloth, four of the tables were empty and the cabin elevens table was overcrowded.

Chiron was there too, he stomped one of his hoof loudly to get everyone's attention. He raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everyone else raised their glasses and repeated after him, Harry and Percy were the only ones who didn't.

Wood Nymphs came into view holding trays of food, fruit, cheese, fish and an assortment of barbeque.

Luke got Harry and Percy's attention. "Speak to your glass, whatever you want - non alcoholic though."

Percy went first he picked up his glass and cautiously said "Cherry coke." The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then he had a thought and said, "Blue Cherry Coke." the drink turned blue and Percy smiled.

Harry took his glass and said, "Butterbeer," the glass filled with a brown misty liquid.

"Beer? How did you get that?" Luke asked in disbelief making the entire table look Harry's way.

"Butterbeer, it doesn't have any alcohol," Harry defended himself as he took a drink.

Luke looked at the drink curiously and picked up his own glass, "Butterbeer." he tried a sip and then gulped down half the glass in a few seconds. "That's delicious, tastes like Butterscotch."

Most of the table ordered their own glass of Butterbeer and started talking about it, soon the other tables got in on the action (Except the Ares table for some reason).

Before anybody started eating, everyone stood up with their plates and made their way to the center fire, Luke gestured for Percy and Harry to follow him. One by one the campers started taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire.

"Offerings to the gods, they like the smell," Luke said as he dropped a cluster of fat grapes into the fire and muttered, "Hermes."

Percy stepped forward and thought for a moment, then scraped a big slice of brisket into the fire. Harry stepped forward and picked up an apple that was on his plate.

'Not as impressive as a Basilisk… whoever you are,' Harry thought as he dropped the apple into the fire which quickly burnt up. When they returned to their tables and finished eating Chiron stomped his hoof again to get everyone's attention.

A man sitting at table twelve stood up with a loud sigh. He was a big man with a trimmed beard, black hair and wearing a leopard pattern shirt. His nose was a little red.

"That's Mr. D, he runs the camp with Chiron," Luke whispered to Harry.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five currently holds the laurels." the man said in a bored tone.

Clarisse and her friends cheered from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued. "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today. Peter Johnson and Harvey Potts."

Chiron murmured something to him.

"Er, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Huzzah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered the campers made their way to the amphitheatre where the kids from the Apollo cabin led a sing along. Everyone but Percy and Harry sung since they didn't know the words to any of the songs, so they sat there toasting marshmallows.

Later in the evening when the campfire was going out, a horn sounded again indicating bedtime, the campers filed into their cabins and got into bed, (and sleeping bags for the Hermes cabin).

Harry was not able to sleep. He had spent the last hour awake. He sighed and got up, grabbed his sleeping bag, tiptoed round the other cabin members and got out of the cabin. Once out he wondered where he should go. In the end he decided on sleeping just next to the woods. So he made his way to the edge of the woods and placed his sleeping bag on the ground. He got into it and looked up at the stars. He was more comfortable here. He fell asleep sometime later.

**-Line Break-**

The next few days Harry settled into a routine. During the mornings he learned Ancient Greek with Percy from Annabeth. As it turns out all demigods have a natural talent in reading Ancient Greek. The rest of the day they'd rotate through outdoor activities. Harry wasn't good at horseback riding, wrestling, metalwork, gardening, in fact he sucked at almost everything. He was decent at canoeing but that was mainly thanks to Percy's help. Harry surprised everyone when he beat the Wood Nymph instructors at foot racing, which made them pout at him all day.

Then he found something he enjoyed, Archery. Chiron walked him through all the steps, he grabbed an arrow from the quiver strapped to his waist. He held the wooden bow and, like he'd done it a hundred times, drew the arrow back. He took aim at the target and let the arrow loose, the arrow pierced the very center of the target. Harry's eyes were wide in shock, he hadn't actually expected to hit the target, let alone the center.

The Apollo kids looked at Harry with slight smiles on their faces, their dad was the god of Archery so they all had natural skill with a bow.

"Harry, try that again," Chiron said in an impressed tone.

Harry retrieved another arrow and drew it back. Everyone was watching, especially the Apollo kids. Harry fired the arrow aiming for the center again. The first arrow split into four quarters as the second arrow struck it and hit the target in the exact same spot. The Apollo kids were cheering and patting Harry on the back. Several of them were asking Chiron if he could move into their cabin. The rest of them had run off to the Stoll brothers to put a bet down on Apollo.

"His father has not claimed him," Chiron said with a shake of his head.

Meanwhile Harry was staring at the target he'd hit, wondering if Apollo was really his father.

On Thursday Luke taught Percy and Harry how to use a sword. After they learned the basics the two learners spent most of the day sparring. Then the next day Harry tried the climbing wall for the first time, the lava running down the wall unnerved him a little.

Then on Friday afternoon, Luke taught Harry and Percy sword-fighting. Well, tried to teach at least, since none of the swords seemed to be balanced in Harry's hand. By the looks of it, the same was the case with Percy. But then Percy managed to _somehow_ disarm Luke, which left the entire arena stunned and speechless. They tried again, but Percy wasn't so lucky this time.

Harry liked archery better.

Then finally arrived the night that most of the camp had been waiting for the whole week. Friday night, the night for_ Capture the Flag._

"Athena and Ares always lead the teams?" Harry asked Luke.

"Not always, but often." He answered.

For this match Hermes had made an alliance with Athena and Apollo. They were going against Ares, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.

_Fair enough_, Harry thought, since Hermes and Apollo were two of the largest cabins.

"HEROES!" Chiron announced, "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary the entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but not bound or gagged. No killing, or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" he spread his arms and the tables were suddenly covered in with equipment: helmets, swords, spears, shields.

"Whoa, we're really supposed to use these?" Percy asked. Luke looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Unless you want to be skewered by your friends in cabin five, yeah, I'd recommend it."

Harry felt like he was suiting up for a quidditch game, instead of the heavy bronze armor everyone were strapping to themselves, Harry found a few pieces of leather armor that looked like the things he wore for his matches to protect him from bludgers but allow him to move freely. He quickly strapped the armor on, covering his forearms, shoulders, chest, back and legs. When it came to weapons he immediately grabbed a bow and a quiver filled with arrows.

"Hmm, maybe I should put a bet down on Apollo," Luke mused out loud. "If you're not wearing a helmet you'll need to wear this," Luke passed him a stretchy blue sweatband.

Harry looked around and noticed that all of the helmets had either a blue or red plume to indicate which team you were on.

"Blue team forward!" Annabeth called out, the team cheered and followed her down the path to the south woods. Harry quickly wrapped the band on his left arm, strapped the quiver to his back and followed them. The red team shouted taunts at them as they made their own way into the north woods. As they set up the banner and started assigning campers to tasks, a thought came to Harry, Chiron had said 'All magical items were permitted'. A smirk came to Harry's face.

"What?" Luke asked, seeing Harry's face.

Harry didn't answer, he dug into his pocket and retrieved his trunk, after tapping it with his wand it grew to full size, opening it he rummaged around for a minute before he found what he was looking for. His broom and his cloak.

"What're those?" Luke asked.

Harry mounted his broom and kicked off the ground making his team gasp.

"A magic wand, now a flying broomstick, Harry you are such a stereotype. What's next, a cauldron?" Connor Stoll asked with a grin.

Harry threw his cloak over himself leaving only his head uncovered.

"Oh, this is so cool!" Travis exclaimed.

"Need a scout?" Harry asked.

Luke gave instructions for Harry to fly over the enemy territory, find the flag and report back. Harry covered his head and flew north, as he did he could have sworn he heard Annabeth say, "I was turning invisible before it was cool!"

Harry flew overhead and found he could see everything, he quickly found the flag guarded by a burly Hephaestus kid and one of Clarisse's sisters. After memorizing where it was he flew back to the south, he spotted Luke and a few others approaching the boundary between the north and south woods.

"Luke," Harry called and threw the cloak off his head. "The flag is straight ahead maybe 500 meters."

"What's the layout of the red team?"

"The flag is guarded by one of the Hephaestus kids and an Ares kid, most of the team is waiting for you dead ahead, to the east are another small group, Clarisse is with them heading for the creek, the west is guarded by Aphrodite girls but they seem to be distracted, looking at their reflections in a pond and trying to sort their hair."

Luke seemed to be thinking for a moment.

"Harry, how fast are you on that thing?" Luke asked. Harry smirked.

"Very," Harry said with confidence, if there was one thing he was proud and certain of, it was his skill on a broom.

"Ok, we're going to cause a distraction with the bulk of the red team, can you get behind their territory and grab the flag?" Luke asked.

Harry agreed with the plan, he gave his cloak to Luke to hang onto since he wouldn't be able to hang onto it and grab the flag at the same time.

Harry flew high overhead and back to the flag, he lowered out of sight and waited for the signal.

A few minutes later a loud commotion came from the wood to the south, metal clashing against metal and shouting.

"Now!" Harry muttered. He leaned forward and burst out of the foliage, before the two guards knew what was happening Harry grasped the banner, tugged it out of the ground and flew south quickly gliding over the treetops. The guards cursed at him the whole time. Harry pulled a whistle out of his armor and blew on it loudly, it was a signal to Luke to pull back.

Below him the Blue team broke off the battle and ran back to the south woods. The red team started cheering thinking that they'd driven the enemy back, they didn't even realize they'd lost their flag.

Harry looked up ahead and frowned, he saw Clarisse at the creek fighting Percy and winning, her friend surrounded him, for a moment Harry wondered why the hell he was alone there.

"Luke!" Harry called from above, Luke looked up just as Harry let go of the banner, Luke caught it and without a question continued to run towards their own flag. He knew Harry must have had a reason not to carry it all the way. Harry flew full speed towards the fight just as Clarisse knocked Percy back into the creek. Harry landed and quickly placed his broom against a tree before rushing forward with his bow in hand.

Harry draw back an arrow and without hesitation let it fly, the tips of the arrows were blunt so he knew they wouldn't kill, the arrow struck the hilt of the sword one of the Ares kids were holding, he yelped and dropped the blade into the creek just as Percy burst up from the water and slammed the blunt of his sword into another campers helmet to hard it flew off. Harry fired another arrow, it hit ugly number two's knee and made him fall to the ground in pain, Percy knocked another one away with his shield and sheared off his red plume with his sword. Finally Clarisse charged at Percy with her spear, Percy caught the tip of the spear between the top of his shield and the flat of his sword and snapped the spear like a twig.

"You idiot!" she screamed in anger. "You corpse-breath worm!"

Having enough of her insults and attitude Harry readied another arrow and let it fly, it struck Clarisse's breastplate so hard that the wood shattered, she fell back into the water coughing.

Suddenly there was cheering all around them, Luke ran into view holding the red banner and heading towards the boundary line. A couple of his brothers and half a dozen Apollo kids were covering his retreat.

"A trick, it was a trick!" Clarisse shouted as she and her cabin mates stumbled to her feet and staggered after Luke. It was too late, everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers as the red banner shimmered and changed to a silver one with a painting of the winged staff with two snakes, the Hermes symbol.

Everybody picked up Luke onto their shoulders and carried him around.

Chiron appeared out of the woods and blew his horn, the game was over, the blue team had won.

"Nat bad, heroes," a voice came from next to Harry and Percy, "How did you both learn to fight like that?" the air shimmered and Annabeth appeared taking off a baseball cap that had obviously made her invisible.

"You set me up!" Percy accused. "You put me here so Clarisse would come after me while you sent Luke around to flank."

"That was the plan, I was going to have Harry with you but he turned out to be a pretty good scout instead, I was about to help you but then Harry swooped in to help," Annabeth said with a shrug.

Suddenly the celebration stopped when a loud howl echoed through the woods followed by a loud growling.

"Stand ready! My bow!" Chiron shouted.

There, on the rocks above them stood a black hound the size of a rhino, its red eyes glaring at them and dagger sized fangs bared. It wasn't nearly as big as fluffy but it unnerved Harry nonetheless. It leapt at them. Quicker than anybody could see, Harry readied an arrow, aimed at the airborne hound and fired, the arrow struck the hound under its chin but bounced away harmlessly, Harry had forgotten the arrows were blunt. The hound slammed into both Harry and Percy knocking them to the ground and slashing Percy's armor with its claws. Before it could attack again a few dozen arrows suddenly sprouted from it's neck and it dropped dead at their feet, luckily those arrows weren't blunt.

Chiron trotted forward, a bow in hand, his face grim.

"That was a Hellhound! From the fields of punishment," Annabeth said in shock. "They don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron interrupted. "Someone in the camp."

"It was Harry!" Clarisse shouted. "He knows magic, he must have summoned it!"

Several of the campers looked at Harry suspiciously.

Suddenly the campers attention was on something else, something floating over Percy's head.

"Um, Percy," Harry said pointing at it. Percy looked up at a green holographic trident floating above his head.

"Your father… this is really not good," Annabeth murmured.

"It is determined," Chiron announced stepping forward. All around them campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin reluctantly.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of the sea god."

Just as everybody was getting to their feet trying to process what they'd just learned. A blinding white light flashed behind Harry, he spun around with bow in hand ready to shoot. He quickly realized that the light wasn't coming from behind him, it was coming from above him.

There was a collective gasp and everyone took a step back, even Chiron. Above Harry's head was a pure white bow in the shape of a crescent moon.

"Hail Hadrian Potter, son of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, Forests and Hills, the Moon, Archery", Chiron spoke as if he could not believe he was saying those words.

**-Line Break-**

Harry moved out of Cabin 11 that night feeling tired and miserable. His claiming had shocked everyone into silence.

When he looked at Annabeth after the claiming, she had a face that if there were different circumstances, he would have been laughing so hard that he would have been rolling on the ground.

He opened the door to Cabin 8 and stared in amazement at the sight in front of him forgetting his previous misery temporarily. It was not a cabin at all. The moment he closed the door, he felt as if he was in the middle of a forest. The woods seemed to stretch for miles in all directions.

The space above him was empty and seemed to extend into the sky though he knew that it was the same enchantment that was on the ceiling of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It seemed that his mother was more claustrophobic than him.

Either the door was a portal to the middle of a forest, a stable one or his mother created a forest in a magically expanded cabin. He didn't know which one would be more impressive.

He took a deep breath filling himself with the sweet scent of the woods and let it calm him.

He could see a silver coloured tent with his name on it set up in a meadow near a steadily flowing stream. He opened the tent to see a sleeping bag and a silver-coloured backpack with a silver Swiss army knife and a silver watch and a long scroll beside it. In the corner, his trunk was lying.

He went over and picked up the scroll and began reading it. It was written in Ancient Greek.

_Dear Harry,_

_The army knife beside this is a weapon made by me. Since your heritage is now revealed, your holly wand will not work for you anymore. Therefore this army knife consists of a wand in it too. It has four items actually: a sword, a bow and a wand. This wand is made of Moonlight Silver, the metal me and my Hunters use in our arrows and daggers (silver mined from the moon, blessed by me, very similar to Celestial Bronze), with a core of the tail hair of one of my own sacred unicorns. No one else will be able to use the except you. The army knife will always return to your pocket._

_The sword and spear are made from the same metal. You will find them perfectly balanced for you. The bow it will turn to is very similar to mine. A quiver with unlimited Moonlight Silver arrows will appear automatically on your back. The weapon will know when you want to turn it back. (This weapon doesn't have a name yet. You can name it if you want to.)_

_The silver watch is basically a normal watch, but on twisting its dial anti-clockwise it turns into a shield. Same thing for turning back as the items in the knife. I just thought it would come in handy with the sword and spear. _

_Now, for the backpack, it consists of some clothes I have given you, don't worry, I'm sure you'll like them. They are enchanted to resize and fit you as you put them on. You will also find a laptop inside it. See, both Hecate and Hephaestus owed me a favor. I had Hephaestus make it with divine mechanism, so it won't attract any monsters._

_I asked Hecate to make it run on pure magic, so it won't need charging and won't go haywire at Hogwarts. It will shrink from pressing a button on the top right corner of the keyboard, if you need to carry it portably. Oh and the pack recognizes only _your _magical signature, so to open it, tap your wand on the crescent moon charm located at where the two locks meet. The pack is also magically expanded. _

_The laptop is more versatile than you'd think, and holds more secrets than you'd believe. (_wink_) _

_I hope it's not too much, but what can I say? You're my first and only child._

_I had these forged and made long ago, I was waiting for you to get to camp._

_I'm sure you're wondering how you were born, since I am a maiden goddess. First, let me make this clear, I _DID NOT _BREAK MY VOW. Okay, now that that's clear, let me tell you what happened._

_You see, your mother, Lily Potter, was hit by an infertility curse during a Death Eaters' (Voldemort's followers) attack, thus rendering her unable to bear children. She was desperately finding a chance to be a mother. Then, finally, she found a ritual, through which they could call upon any god or goddess who was listening to the prayer to grant them a child. She told James about it. He agreed to do it. So they did the ritual, I was listening, and I felt sympathetic, so I gave Lily one of my eggs. James knew about it. And, well, then you were born._

_Hope you don't hate me._

_Love, _

_Your Mother,_

_Artemis._

_P.S. The backpack also contains your Gringotts card. It's like an ATM card. I had the goblins make it. Yes, they know about our existence. It will work in all ATMs and will take the money out from your trust vault. Spend the money wisely._

_P.P.S. Oh, by the way, your real name is Hadrian James Potter. Harry was just a short form invented by James. _

Harry picked up the army knife and admired it. It was silver and had an engraving of a deer on the upward face.

On the face of the deer engraving, there were two smaller engravings of a spear and sword on the left and right respectively.

Harry looked at the edges. Each edge (left and right) had two items that could be flipped. He turned the face upside-down.

The downward face was pretty much the same except for the engravings: instead of a deer there was a crescent moon, and instead of the spear and sword there was a bow and wand respectively.

Harry decided to look at the wand first. So he flipped out the wand. It was glowing silver, and had a perfectly sized holding place for his hand. It was eleven inches, including the holding place, a little shorter than he was used to, but he felt safe with this wand in his hand.

Next, he decided to admire the sword. The wand seemed to know what he was thinking, because he was suddenly holding the army knife again. He flipped the sword out. What he found was so awesome for him that he couldn't help but look at it in awe.( **hehe ;P )**

The blade was about two feet long, glowing silver, perfectly balanced and rightly sized. On the hilt was a crescent moon also glowing silver. He tried a few strikes. He moved much more gracefully with it than the camp weapons.

Then Harry flipped out the spear. It was about six feet long, a shaft with a silvery sharp head. Harry figured that he wouldn't use it as much as the sword since he had absolutely no training with it.

He willed it to turn back into the army knife and so it did.

Harry finally flipped out the bow. The knife turned into a silver colored bow in the shape of a crescent moon. He also felt a weight on his back. He reached and felt it, it seemed to be a quiver filled with arrows. He pulled one out, took aim at the trunk of one of the trees, pulled back the string, and let loose. The arrow hit _exactly _where he had aimed it.

Harry turned the bow back into the army knife, he had been so busy checking out the weapon he hadn't even realized how tired he was.

He rummaged through the backpack, found some night clothes and changed into them.

Before going to bed, though, he checked out the one remaining item: the watch. He picked it up and looked at it. It was a simple silver analog watch. Harry put it on. It wasn't tight, but it wasn't falling off his wrist either. In fact, it perfectly fit his wrist. Harry idly wondered where his mother had gotten all the sizes.

He twisted the dial and the watch suddenly was a polished silver shield with a faint crescent moon on it. Harry willed it to change back into the watch and so it did. He placed the swiss knife in his pocket.

He yawned and got into the sleeping bag. He felt far more comfortable in it than he had ever felt even in his Gryffindor four-poster bed.

Okay, it was official. His mother was the coolest goddess. Ever.

He looked up at the moon, and said, "Thank you, mother." Harry saw the moon shine more brightly and smiled.

_I'll look over the laptop tomorrow with Annabeth and Percy, _was his last thought before he turned over and fell asleep.

**-Line Break-**

**Another chapter done. Yay! **

**Hope you liked the chapter.**

**So, bye for now, readers! R & R please.**


	3. Quest and Triple Demon Grandmothers

**Back again. Enjoy your chapter you annoying brats. **

**Thank you ****DZ2****, ****Please Read my stuff****, ****AECM****, ****robert32514****, ****James Birdsong****, ****thomaspheasant****, ****SoulfulKarma668** **and 2 guests for reviews. **

**Guest****: Ron? Nah. Hermione, maybe of Athena, **_**definitely **_**not Ares. Fred and George, also maybe, probably both of Hermes. Neville will be definite though (he'll come later). I'm pretty sure that you if you have read Harry Potter can guess the most likely choice for his godly parent.**

**SoulfulKarma668****: I meant the wand. Since a mortal wizard wouldn't be able to use it 'cause its made of Moonlight Silver, and a demigod wizard wouldn't be able to do so 'cause the core of the unicorn tail hair is from one of Artemis's sacred unicorns.**

**In the last chapter, ****.s****, I told ****ChronosMoon** **something. Well, the same goes for you: DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!**

**Anyways, onward to the story!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.**

**-Line Break-**

The next day, Harry woke to a knocking on his cabin door. He got up and walked to the door opened it. It was Annabeth.

"Come to Big House when you're ready, Chiron wants to see you." She left without saying another word. Harry found this confusing.

He showered, changed his clothes and walked to the Big House. Then he turned around. He took the Swiss knife, letter, and laptop with him. He figured he will have to show these to Chiron.

When Harry went inside, he found Annabeth there, along with Chiron.

"Ah, good morning Harry, had a good night?" He asked. Harry shrugged.

"Harry, do you have any idea how…you know… your mother…" Annabeth trailed off.

Harry didn't answer, instead he held out the letter to her. She took it and read it, eyes widening as she read more and more. Finally, after seemingly finishing reading it, she passed it to Chiron. Chiron read it, once finished, he asked, "May I see the weapon, Harry?" Harry held out the army knife to him.

He took it and flipped one of the items out. Harry couldn't tell which. It turned into a sword.

He ran his finger a across the blade. He gave it back to Harry and said, "Moonlight Silver. I suggest you take good care of it Harry, that metal is incredibly rare." Harry nodded.

He looked at Annabeth to find her eyes glued to the laptop in Harry's hand.

Harry placed the laptop on the table and switched it on. Annabeth came over and stood behind him.

Moments later the home screen came. It was moving picture of a forest with animals, magical and non-magical, some hunting, some playing, all living in peace and harmony. The sky was illuminated by a full moon and many stars twinkled all over the sky.

Harry thought it was absolutely beautiful.

There was a task bar beneath the picture. No icons were there on it but an icon in the middle denoting the menu. Harry clicked it and a menu screen appeared. There were only four applications: Settings, Browser, Store and Notes.

"However amazing this is, this was not the reason I called you here. Annabeth, would you mind getting Percy here?" Chiron said. From Chiron's face, Harry could tell that it was not good news.

He switched off the laptop and looked at Annabeth. She had a look on her face that told him that they (read-she) would be checking out the laptop later.

Then as though snapping out of a trance, she turned around and walked out to get Percy.

**-Line Break-**

So let me get this straight," Percy said, "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."

"Check," Chiron said.

"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."

"Check."

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right."

Percy looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.

"Did I mention that Maine is very nice at this time of the year?" He asked weakly.

"You don't have to go," Percy told him, "I can't ask that of you."

"Oh, no… it's just that satyrs and underground places… well…," he took a deep breath and stood up. "You saved my life Percy. If… if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down." Percy looked relieved.

Harry didn't know who to ask for coming with him, since Chiron had said that in this case they had two leaders, each leader was allowed to take one companion with him.

Then he noticed Annabeth looking like she was trying to decide whether or not to say something.

"You wanna come, Annabeth?" He asked.

"Sure, I guess." Annabeth shrugged.

"You don't have to come if you don't want too, I'm sure Luke would," Percy started to say, thinking that Annabeth really didn't want to come.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest Seaweed Brain," Annabeth interrupted him. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world. I'm the best person to keep you from messing it up."

"I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, and Annabeth's cheeks colored.

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, I'll have Argus take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."

**-Line Break-**

Harry walked to his cabin and all the way through the forest to his tent. He grabbed his broomstick and the clothes he had worn yesterday, folded the clothes and then placed them in his trunk. He then shrank the trunk and placed it inside the pack. Something inside the pack that he had failed to notice earlier caught his eye.

It was card-holder, silver in colour, with an engraving of a deer on it. It didn't seem to have any opening. He accidentally touched the engraving with his thumb. The upper lid of the holder opened and a card slid out. Harry took the card and examined it. It had the Diagon Alley's Gringotts Branch's picture and a Gringotts goblin beside it with the typical nasty grin on his face. At the top of the picture Gringotts International was inscribed. At the bottom, the inscription was Vault 687.

Harry put the card back in the holder and placed the holder in his left pocket (the right one had the army knife).

He flipped out his wand and cast a _tempus _charm. There were still about three and a half hours for the quest. Not having anything else to do he decided to take a nap.

He got into his sleeping bag and fell asleep sometime later.

He was standing in what seemed like a throne room. All the twelve olympians were seated on their respective thrones. He realized what was going on. _Demigod dream_.

Zeus spoke. "l sense you are telling the truth, daughter." He said. "But you will still be punished for hiding this for us. You will spend the days till the summer solstice on your temple." Then he narrowed his eyes. "And the boy must give my Bolt back. That goes for your son too, Poseidon."

And then the room disappeared and it was totally dark and Harry was falling, down, down, down…

And then he heard it. From the depths of wherever he was falling, he heard a high, cold, cruel, echoing laughter.

He woke with a start.

He rubbed his eyes and put his glasses on. His mind was racing. He didn't know what to think. His mother had been punished because she had kept his existence secret. And then the laughter… He shivered involuntarily.

He casted a _tempus _and looked at the time. He still had another half hour before they had to leave for the quest. He got up and showered and cleaned himself up, then again got dressed, and picked up his backpack and walked out of the cabin.

**-Line Break-**

The camp store had loaned them one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. Those coins were much bigger than the galleons Harry was used to and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told them, but Olympians never used less than pure gold.

Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions-whatever that meant.

He gave them a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares each, to be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded them. It would cure them of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn them up, literally.

Harry put the canteen and Ziploc bag in his backpack.

They waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that was lovingly called Thalia's Tree.

Chiron was waiting for them in his wheelchair. Next to him stood a man in a chauffeur's uniform. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised.

"This is Argus," Chiron told them. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

Harry heard footsteps behind them-the sound of someone running. Harry turned and saw Luke running towards them holding a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey," he panted. "Glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told Percy. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."

He handed Percy the sneakers, which looked pretty normal.

Luke said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling both Harry and Percy. They apparently startled Percy so much that he dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.

"Hey, man," Percy said. "Thanks."

They shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then shook Harry's hand too, then gave a goodbye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.

After Luke was gone, Percy turned to Annabeth, "You're hyperventilating." He told her.

"Am not." She snapped and stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.

Harry had to keep himself from snorting.

Percy looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?" He asked, picking up the flying shoes.

Chiron shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."

Percy turned to Harry. Harry shook his head. He said, "I'm just as much on Zeus's hitlist as you. If I could fly, I'd do it on my broomstick."

He nodded and turned to Grover. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"

His eyes lit up. "Me?"

Pretty soon the sneakers were laced over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.

"Maia!" he shouted.

He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.

"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"

"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.

Percy made to follow, but Chiron caught his arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."

"That's okay. I just wish—" He stopped himself. Harry knew why-he sounded like a brat.

"What am I thinking?" Chiron suddenly cried. "I can't let you get away without this."

He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to Percy. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap.

"Gee," Percy said. "Thanks."

"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."

He uncapped it. It turned into a three-foot long sword with a double-edged bronze blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron said. "It's name is Anaklusmos."

"'Riptide,'" He translated, seemingly surprised.

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."

Both Harry and Percy looked at the blade and wondered the same thing. How could it not?

"What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?" Percy asked him.

"That blade is made of Celestial Bronze. It is deadly to monsters but will pass through mortals like an illusion. They are simply not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you, as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

"Good to know." Percy mumbled.

He added looking at Harry, "The same with Moonlight Silver."

Harry nodded.

"Now recap the pen."

He touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly the sword shrank to a ballpoint pen again. He tucked it in his pocket, looking nervous.

"You can't," Chiron said.

"Can't what?" He asked.

"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."

He looked wary, but did as told nonetheless.

"It may take a few moments," Chiron told Percy. "Now check your pocket."

"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."

Sure enough, the pen was there.

_Looks like his sword has the same enchantment_, Harry thought to himself.

"Okay, that's extremely cool," He admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"

Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."

"What, the magical veil thingy that prevents mortals from seeing monsters and all?" Harry said, remembering Dumbledore's words.

"What?" Percy asked confused.

"Yes Harry, that 'thingy'." He chuckled. "Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."

"Chiron ..." Percy started. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"

Now that Percy mentioned it, Harry wanted to know the same thing.

"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."

"So what was it like before the gods?" Harry was the one who asked this time.

Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."

"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?" Percy asked.

Chiron gave him a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."

"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."

"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."

"Relax," He said. "I'm very relaxed."

Then they both went down the hill. Once down, they both looked back. Chiron was now standing in full centaur form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.

**-Line Break-**

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island.

Harry lay back thinking, wondering what this quest would bring for them. He knew Percy had lied about the prophecy, but didn't push him. Maybe it was something personal. After all, he had hidden things from them too. Like being the heir to a noble family, being able to talk to snakes, etc.

Harry didn't show it at Hogwarts, but he had a lot of knowledge about wizarding customs and traditions. He usually acted like a clueless boy who didn't even know that the said world existed before turning eleven (which was true, mind you, but still, he had a lot more knowledge than most people expected him to do). He had spent many nights in Hogwarts reading about them and learning pureblood etiquette. He had gone to the library and picked up a lot of books on topics like the Sacred Twenty-Eight and other Noble and Ancient or Noble Houses, and had also found much useful knowledge in books called 'Wizarding World: Customs and Traditions' and 'Pureblood Etiquette & More'.

He had also found out that he was the Heir Apparent of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter. He had found that House of Potter wasn't a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight at first, but with the extinction of some Houses, and the fact that it was proven to be descended from the House of Peverell by the goblins, which had helped on laying the very foundation of the British Wizarding World, added it to them.

"So far so good," He heard Percy say. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

"It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain." Annabeth replied with an irritated look.

"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"

Harry snorted under his breath.

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me."

She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."

"Why?"

She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives."

"Oh, forget it."

"Now, if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."

"Agreed." Harry cut in.

"See? Harry agrees with me too." He put his arm around Harry's shoulders, and Harry smiled. Yup, this was much better than the Dursleys.

"I said, forget it! Ugh."

In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at Percy.

Traffic slowed them down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.

Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with Percy's picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?

He ripped it off, but Harry noticed it and snorted.

Percy looked at him with a look that clearly told him to keep his mouth shut about it.

Argus unloaded their bags, made sure they got their bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch them as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Grover shouldered his backpack. He asked Percy, "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"

Percy stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"

"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"

Percy nodded.

"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told him. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."

"Thanks," Percy said. "Where's the nearest shower?"

Harry didn't blame him for talking like that, he would have asked the same thing if Grover had told him that he smelled like Uncle Vernon.

"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."

Percy didn't reply. Harry placed a hand his shoulder. He looked at him.

"Hey, it's alright mate. I had to grow up with people who didn't like anything _unnatural_, as they called it, so you probably imagine how I lived there with me being a wizard _and _a demigod. Then there is this evil mortal dark wizard after my life, who just couldn't stand the fact that _everybody _dies one day and gained false immortality. Dunno how though." He said.

Then he spotted a familiar bushy haired girl walk by him. "Hermione?" He asked shocked. She looked back, and her eyes widened. She came over and hugged him tightly, knocking the air out of his lungs. "Harry! What are you doing here? I thought you went back to the Dursleys?" She asked confused. She let go of him, leaving him gasping for breath.

Once he regained his composure, He said, "No, Professor Dumbledore sent me somewhere else this summer. I'll explain at Hogwarts. It's _much _better than the Dursleys. I'm _never _going back there." He finished cheerfully.

Hermione looked at Percy, Annabeth and Grover, giving a questioning look to Harry.

"Oh, right." He replied. "These are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood, my friends from that place Dumbledore sent me to." He turned to them, "Percy, Annabeth, Grover, meet Hermione Granger, one of my best friends from school."

"Hey." Percy and Grover greeted.

"Nice to meet you." Annabeth said.

"Nice to meet you all." She returned. She looked at her watch. "Oh, well, goodbye Harry, see you at Hogwarts. I better be going, mum and dad will be waiting for me. You'll owl me, won't you?"

"Not soon. But I will." Harry answered.

"Okay, bye Harry." Hermione left.

Harry looked at Percy, who had mirth in his eyes and was keeping himself from laughing.

Harry had a very bad feeling that he had made himself a subject of a joke he didn't understand.

They got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. Harry wasn't _too _bad.

The game ended when Percy. tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.

Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but they were too busy cracking up.

Finally the bus came. As they stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

Both Harry and Percy could tell it wasn't nothing. Percy looked over his shoulder.

They finally boarded the bus. They found their seats. There was for some reason no place to keep their backpacks. So they kept them with themselves.

Annabeth suddenly said, "Percy."

Harry looked in the direction she was looking.

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered.

Harry looked at Percy, judging by hi_s _face, he recognized her. He scrunched down in his seat.

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like her—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

"She didn't stay dead long," Percy said, trying to keep his voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

Then it clicked for Harry. Percy had defeated a Fury in his school, and Grover had just said all three of them, and Percy had recognized her…

Bloody hell.

"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" she suggested.

There wasn't one.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Percy said. "Will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded him. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"  
Harry asked.

She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"

They hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

The first Fury suddenly stood up and announced to the entire bus in a flat voice. "I need to use the restroom."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

The Furies all started walking down the aisle towards them.

"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."

"What?"

"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away." Annabeth explained.

"But you guys…" Percy looked conflicted, he didn't want to leave his friends. Harry pulled out his trunk and quickly enlarged it and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Then shrinking it again, he stuffed the trunk back in his pocket and pulled Annabeth and Grover to him and swept the cloak over them.

Percy gasped, "Where'd you go?"

Harry whispered, "We're still here, put the cap on Percy!"

Percy complied and disappeared as he sat the cap on his head.

Harry spoke again softly, "Percy, carefully try to make your way to the front. We have to get off this bus quickly!"

Mrs. Dodds stopped for a moment and sniffed the air, Harry worried for a moment that she'd find Percy. But she quickly stopped, sniffing and stalked towards them.

When they reached their row they suddenly changed, their bodies shriveled into leathery brown hag like bodies with bats wings, their hands and feet were cloven with long claws. The handbags they had each held transformed into fiery whips. With a lash of their whips they started hissing. They stalked on, sniffing every so often.

Finally, they passed by enough for the three to slip out and they shuffled down the aisle as quickly as possible.

Suddenly the bus swerved hard to the left. Everybody yelled as they were thrown to the right and the force of the turn smashed all three of the Furies into the windows.

The bus continued to swerve left and right erratically, Harry saw the driver struggling with the wheel as if somebody else was…

"Percy," Harry whispered, realizing Percy's insane idea. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing a shower of sparks a mile behind them. The bus reached the end of the tunnel and shot back out into the daylight.

Somehow the three had stayed on their feet and stayed together under the cloak and quickly continued forward.

Just then the bus's emergency brakes activated and they slid towards the front of the bus. Everyone hit the ground after flying forwards a few feet. The bus skidded uncontrollably, spun a full circle and finally crashed into some trees that seemed to come out of nowhere. The emergency lights turned on, the door flew open and the passengers started stampeding off the bus. The Furies finally got back to their feet and hissed in anger, still looking and sniffing around.

The three managed to slip out and made their way away from the bus, looking around for Percy. Finally, they saw him, hiding behind a tree ahead of them and hurried to join him.

Reunited, the four slipped away into the woods and once they had put enough distance that he thought it safe, Harry pulled out the knife and flipped out his silver wand and said, "_Lumos_." His wand tip lit a with a bright white light and he lit the way ahead, wand in his hand, as they continued on.

**-Line Break-**

**Whew! That was a **_**long **_**chapter. Hope you liked it! **

**Yes, I know that Percy didn't get a quest until a few days after his claiming, but in this story he got it the next day.**

**Okay, well, until next time, readers! Please R & R.**


	4. Garden Gnome Emporium and the Arch

**Well, I thought I'd update this one too, since it got finished early. Enjoy.**

**Thank you DZ2 and Raven Marcus for reviews.**

**DZ2****: Thanks.**

**Raven Marcus****: Ok, well, I'll make her a demigod. The pairing, I'm not so sure. I'll put up a poll afterwards. Personally, I think that Harry should be paired with a PJATO character. No offense, though.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.**

**-Line Break-**

In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

So there they were, Annabeth, Grover, Percy and Harry, their bags slung over their shoulders, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Percy looked pretty much in shock himself. Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

They continued on, none of them eager to encounter the Furies a second time.

They chatted quietly about what they could do to get out of their current predicament and continue on their quest. Harry was about to say something when his nose caught a smell, his mouth watered and his stomach rumbled. "Um… do you guys smell food?"

Percy took an experimental whiff and licked his lips, "Yeah, burgers."

"Over there," Grover said, pointing at a light through the trees.

The four walked quickly through the woods until they emerged near a deserted two lane road. On the other side was a closed down gas station, a billboard for a movie from the '80s and an open business which was the source of light and the good smell. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by dozens of statues.

Percy and Annabeth squinted their eyes at the neon sign trying to make out what it said. While at camp Annabeth had told him that most demigods were dyslexic and had ADHD. The dyslexia was due to their minds being hard wired for ancient Greek, the ADHD was caused by their inborn battle reflexes. Harry was lucky enough to have both the ability to read Greek and have the reflexes, without having to suffer dyslexia or ADHD. He thanked Hecate for Magic.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," Harry read out loud.

Percy was the first to cross the street following the smell, Annabeth followed him a few moments later.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy muttered hungrily.

"Snack bar," Annabeth agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."

Harry agreed with him, there was something creepy about both the statues and the way his two friends were acting. They ignored Grover and walked into the garden. Harry and Grover jogged to catch up to them.

The front garden was filled with statues off all kinds, animals, children, even a satyr which gave Grover the creeps.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "This looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

They stopped at the door of the warehouse.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is stuffed up from the Furies," Annabeth said dismissively. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" Grover said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

The doors in front of them suddenly swung open by themselves, standing there was a woman wearing a long black gown covering everything but her hands and her head was completely veiled. Harry could just make out the shine of her eyes behind the curtain of black gauze.

Behind the woman Harry heard the sound of dozens of people speaking, having conversations, laughing at jokes. It reminded Harry of dinner in the Great Hall back at Hogwarts, the sounds of the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables talking about their day with their friends.

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone," the woman said in a slightly Middle Eastern accent. "Where are your parents?"

"They're… um…" Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy blurted out. Harry winced.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded strange on her lips, "Oh, my poor dears, surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy said. "Our um… our circus, caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten…" Percy kept going as Harry looked at him in disbelief.

"It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion," Harry muttered to Grover who broke a small smile for the first time since the Furies attacked.

"… or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway we're lost," Percy finished lamely. "Is that food I smell?" Percy finished.

"Oh, my dears," the woman said in a tone that reminded Harry for a moment of Mrs. Weasley. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area, I'll have burgers and fries ready in minutes."

Aunty Em turned around and disappeared into the warehouse followed shortly by Percy and Annabeth leaving Harry and Grover standing at the open doors.

"Burgers," Percy said with a smile.

"Burgers," Annabeth agreed.

"Ok, I know that there are plenty of stereotypes about Americans loving their burgers," Harry whispered to Grover. "But this is just ridiculous."

"Something is wrong, really wrong," Grover said as he took a few cautious steps into the warehouse. "This place reeks of monsters and Percy and Annabeth are acting weird."

Harry and Grover walked to catch up with the others, the Warehouse was filled with more statues, people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. Their eyes seemed to follow them as they moved.

Harry looked around for the people who were making such a din talking, but other than the statues they were seemingly alone.

"Where are those voices coming from?" Harry asked in confusion.

"What voices?" Grover asked in return.

Harry and Grover reached the dining area and saw Percy and Annabeth already sitting at a steel picnic table. Aunty Em was behind a fast food counter complete with a soda fountain, pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser. Harry was hoping that the area would be filled with people, workers taking their break and talking about their day, as that would explain what Harry was hearing. But the only ones in the room were Percy, Annabeth and Aunty Em.

"Please, sit down, dears," Aunty Em called over the sound of sizzling burgers on a grill. "The food will be done in a minute."

Seeing as Harry knew he had their only money he approached the counter.

"How much?" Harry asked but Aunty Em waved him off.

"No, no, child. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

Harry twitched, he knew he was an orphan but he didn't like being called one so flippantly.

"Thank you," Harry said with a forced smile and joined the others. He sat next to Grover across from Percy and Annabeth.

Moments later Aunty Em appeared with a plastic tray holding large portions of fries, large milkshakes and a cheeseburger each.

This was the first time Harry had such a meal in front of him, Hogwarts didn't serve this kind of food and the Dursleys would never…

"Thank you ma'am," Annabeth said. Harry noticed Aunty Em stiffen, as if Annabeth had done something wrong. She quickly relaxed again.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."

Aunty Em disappeared back behind the counter.

"How did she know your name?" Harry asked. Annabeth answered with a shrug as she took a bite of her burger.

Harry looked around for whoever was talking, there should be dozens of people to match the noise but there was no one. He nervously ate his fries.

"Okay, seriously," Harry said in a slight panic. "Can't you guys hear that?"

"I can't hear anything, just a hissing sound, must be the deep fryer," Grover said as he chewed on the grease paper the meal came with.

Harry looked around and his eyes locked on another statue, this one was of a young girl holding an Easter basket. She was very detailed, but something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, maybe even terrified.

Aunty Em had reappeared and noticed Harry looking at the statue.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right, always the face."

Annabeth looked startled, like she'd realized something. She placed her almost finished burger down and looked around nervously.

"P-Percy?" she shook his shoulder trying to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." she sounded tense.

"Such beautiful eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those." she reached out to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.

"We really should go."

"Yes!" Grover agreed with her as he swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to see children, before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A p-pose?" Annabeth asked warily.

"A photograph dear child, I will use it to model a new statue set. They are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on Percy…"

"Sure we can," Percy said irritably, he wasn't happy with Annabeth being rude to Aunty Em after she fed them for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."

Annabeth didn't like it all, but reluctantly followed. Aunty Em lead the four campers back to the front door, into the garden of statues.

Aunty Em directed them to a park bench next to the stone satyr and guided them into position. Harry noticed that the voices had stopped the din and started whispering rapidly, he was able to make out a few sentences.

'_Ooh, I love thisss part'_, one voice said.

'_Ssshh, I'm trying to watch'_, another said.

'_Passss' the popcorn'_, another said.

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.

Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please. Everyone? A large smile?"

Harry was thinking about the voices, he felt he was missing something. There something so… familiar about this situation.

Grover turned to look at the satyr statue next to him. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

_'Voices only I can hear,'_ Harry thought, it started coming together and it wasn't good. _'Snakes… statues… Aunty Em… Aunty M… Grey eyes… Perseus… Clash of the Titans… oh SHIT!'_ Harry's eyes widened as he saw Aunty M reach for her veil.

"That IS Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped as he too realized how much danger they were really in.

"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted, she'd obviously figured it out too. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and Percy both off the bench. Harry was able to look away just in time and dove behind the bench on his own.

"Medusa," Harry gasped as he scrambled across the floor ando took out his army knife from his pocket and flipped it into his wand. "Snakes," Harry spat through gritted teeth. "Why is it always snakes?"

Annabeth appeared next to Harry taking off her hat.

"We mustn't look her in the eyes," Annabeth said.

"I know, I saw the movie in school once," Harry said quickly.

Meanwhile, Medusa had cornered Percy. "Such a pity to destroy such a handsome young face," she told Percy soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."

"Don't do it Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

"The Grey-Eyed one did this to me, Percy," Medusa said as she glared in their direction. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth shouted again.

"Silence!" Medusa screeched at her.

"She'll turn us to stone only if we look directly into her eyes?" Harry asked as an idea popped into his head. Annabeth nodded.

"EYES DOWN!" he shouted and stood, eyes closed and pointed his wand up, "LUMOS SOLEM MAXIMA!" he screamed. He was rewarded with a loud screech of pain as his spell essentially created a miniature sun blazing very brightly in the center of the room for a few moments.

"My eyes! Curse you demigod! My eyes!"

Knowing he now only had moments, he flipped his knife, which had turned back sensing his thoughts, into a sword as he closed, eyes locked on the floor, he dodged and jumped as Medusa's tail flailed wildly about until he was close enough. He ducked a swing of her arm and spun, his sword arcing up and across… it slid easily through her neck. Breathing heavily, Harry heard a wet slurping sound followed by a dull thud as her head slid of her neck. Her body exploded into silver dust and vanished.

'_Ah man, not again….' _he heard a bunch of voices cry out as the head fell and hit the ground.

Harry grabbed a nearby tablecloth and used it to clean his sword which then shrank back to its army knife form and he stowed it back in his pocket. He then used the tablecloth to wrap up the gruesome head of Medusa and sat it to the side for the moment. That done, he then gave the all clear to his friends.

The exhausted demigods and their satyr friend wandered back inside to the eating area and dropped back into their seats were they'd eaten. They were too exhausted to speak.

"So, we have Athena to thank for this monster?" Percy asked remembering what Medusa said about Annabeth's mother.

Annabeth gave Percy an irritated look, "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."

"Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa?"

The two started trading insults as Grover rubbed his head.

"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"

Percy grinned, "Hold on, I saw something earlier… be right back." He then disappeared into the office they had passed through earlier. After a few minutes he came back holding an armful of papers and a cardboard box.

"I found something!" Percy said as he pushed a document in front of Annabeth and Harry. It was an invoice for statues shipped to Hades and Persephone's garden. The Underworld's billing address was 'DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California.'

"Hollywood… that's Los Angeles, right, in California?" Harry asked, Annabeth nodded with a smile, they now knew where they needed to go.

"The entrance to the Underworld is in Hollywood… makes sense I guess, likely more people have sold their souls there than anywhere else on Earth," Harry joked.

Many of the other papers were envelopes and packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins.

After asking Harry for it, Percy packed Medusa's head into the cardboard box and filled out a delivery slip.

**The Gods**

**Mount Olympus**

**600th Floor**

**Empire State Building**

**New York, NY**

**With Best Wishes**

**PERCY JACKSON**

**HARRY POTTER **

Harry put his name down too.

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

Percy poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register.

'_Road trip! Woo!' _Came a dozen voices that only Harry could hear.

Then the package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!

Percy and Harry both looked at each other and then back at Grover and grinned.

"We ARE impertinent." They said together.

Percy looked at Annabeth, as if daring her to criticize.

She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that they had a major talent for ticking off the gods.

They spent the next fifteen minutes raiding Medusa's belongings; there wasn't much food despite the misleading snack bar. Harry stayed sat down and looked at the stone girl again. Still frozen, still looking terrified. He'd hoped that killing Medusa might have broken her spell on all these people, but it hadn't. For a moment he wondered if this girl's parents were still out there somewhere looking for her.

****-******-Line Break-**

They were pretty miserable that night.

They camped out in the woods, a hundred meters from the main road. The clearing they stayed in looked like people had been there recently partying, the ground was littered with flattened pop cans and fast food wrappers.

They'd taken some blankets from Aunty Em's but they didn't dare light a fire and attract attention. The Furies and Medusa had been enough for one day. They slept in shifts; Annabeth fell asleep as soon as her head hit her blanket.

Harry laid back and looked up at the sky; he couldn't see many stars, only the brightest and most recognizable ones, Orion, the Big Dipper, as light pollution ruined the view.

"It makes me sad Percy," Grover said from his spot lying on a branch in the nearest tree.

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy asked.

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky, you can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah, I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

Grover glared at him. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast… ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy asked, Harry snorted letting them know he was still awake.

"Pan. P-A-N. The God of Wild Places," Harry explained as he sat up slightly.

Grover nodded, glad that somebody knew what he was talking about.

"That's why I want a searchers license," Grover said. "The God of the Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago. A sailor off the coast of Ephesus heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom even since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher?" Harry asked.

"It's my life's dream," Grover said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand, he knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on… the first?" Percy asked with wide eyes.

"No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again." Grover explained. "But it's worth it; if we find Pan then he can fix the wild, undo the mess that you humans have made of things."

"Hey!" Harry snapped, getting annoyed at Grover's accusations. "Not all humans are like that, especially where I'm from."

"You're saying England _doesn't_ litter?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about England. I'm a wizard. We don't make a mess of the world, we don't litter, we don't cause light pollution, hell we don't even use electricity!" Harry exclaimed.

"You don't?" Percy asked in surprise.

"No, electronics go haywire around our magic. You should see Hogwarts…" Harry mused as he laid back, closed his eyes and remembered his home. "A castle in the highlands of Scotland. A village called Hogsmeade not far from it. A forest filled with wild magical animals inside the grounds. Unicorns. Even centaurs. At night the castle and the village is dotted with small lights coming from old fashioned lanterns. No mortal cities for miles all around so at night the sky is dotted with stars and those stars are reflected perfectly off the water of the great lake next to the castle. The view at night from the Astronomy tower is amazing."

Grover let out a sigh as he imagined it. Harry continued to remember Hogwarts as his eyes slowly drooped and he slipped into a deep sleep.

**-Line Break-**

Harry woke up with a start when he heard a loud 'SNAP'. He looked up and saw Annabeth standing on a twig.

"Sorry," Annabeth apologized.

It was early morning, the sun hadn't yet risen and Harry could still see the moon.

"It's okay, I'm used to getting up early," Harry said as he sat up and stretched. "You can get a couple hours extra sleep if you want, I'll take watch."

"Nah, I'm good," Annabeth said as she took a seat across from him and cast a glance at Percy and Grover whom were still sleeping.

"Harry, I have to ask you something," Annabeth said as she fingered a ring hanging from her leather necklace. "What was your life like back in England?"

Harry stiffened; he got the feeling Annabeth wasn't talking about Hogwarts.

"The way you talk about not missing your family, did your parents ever…" Annabeth stumbled over what she was trying to say.

"No, it wasn't them!" Harry quickly said, not wanting Annabeth to think that way about Lily and James Potter. A moment after the words left his lips he regretted it, he'd implied that he was mistreated. Harry took a deep breath and spoke.

"My… Mortal parents were murdered when I was only a year old. I survived but I was sent to live with my Aunt and Uncle, they hate anything 'unnatural.' Since my Mum and Stepdad were magical they knew I would be and they hated me for it," Harry hadn't meant to start blurting out these things but it was the first time he'd ever spoken about them to anyone.

"Whenever they talked to me they'd call me Boy or Freak, I didn't even know my name until I started school, I got in trouble because I didn't answer attendance," Harry said with an annoyed shake of his head.

"They made you sleep in a cupboard," Annabeth blurted out making Harry's eyes widen.

"How did you know that?" Harry demanded.

"D-Demigods sometimes have dreams; they can be of the future, the present or the past. The night before we left camp I dreamt about a boy sleeping in a cupboard, he was woken up by a woman with a really long neck and told to cook breakfast, he stood on a stool cooking a pan of bacon, he slipped, the pan fell and…" Annabeth's eyes were filled with tears as she described the dream. Harry felt a phantom pain coming from his leg, he remembered that day and how his leg had been horribly burnt. "I'm so sorry Harry; I know these things are personal."

An uncomfortable silence hung between them for a long time.

Grover suddenly moaned "Food!" in his sleep and rolled over; right off his branch and fell to the ground with a thud. This noise caused Percy to stir awake. Harry only now noticed how long he and Annabeth had been talking, the sun was coming up and the moon was no longer visible.

"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombies live."

"How long was I asleep?" Percy asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast," Annabeth said as she tossed Percy a packet of tortilla chips she'd grabbed from Aunty Em's snack bar. Before Percy could open the pack Harry grabbed the pack out of his hands with a shake of his head.

"That's not a breakfast!" Harry said while shooting a disapproving look at Annabeth. Harry reached into his own pack and produced a few cooking supplies he'd found in Medusa's kitchen. A frying pan, a bottle of vegetable oil and a few simple ingredients.

"You can cook?" Percy asked, wondering eagerly what Harry was about to cook. Annabeth twitched, she knew how Harry had learned, Harry shot a look at her that clearly told her to keep her mouth shut. He didn't want the others to know, it was bad enough that she knew.

"Can you start a fire?" Harry asked nobody in particular.

Harry threw flour, milk and a few eggs into a bowl and started mixing. Within a few minutes Harry had pancakes cooking in the pan making the others drool.

"So, anybody have any idea what we do from here?" Grover asked. "I mean, we're supposed to be on our way to Denver right now. We're barely out of New York and we're stuck here with no way west."

"Well, I still have around five hundred dollars," Harry said. "We could get new tickets."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," Annabeth said as she pointed down the hill. Harry followed her line of sight and saw train tracks. Last night he hadn't noticed them in the dark. "There should be an Amtrak station nearby."

"A train, now that I can handle," Harry said with a smile.

They then ate breakfast together, the others raving about how good the pancakes were, to Harry's embarrassment. When they had finished, they packed up and eventually made their way to the train station and caught a west bound train without any further… difficulties.

**-Line Break-**

The train stopped in St Louis for three hours. Instead of waiting in the boiling hot train car the quartet opted to go out for a bit of sightseeing.

After getting off the train Annabeth pointed at a large arch structure, it looked like a huge shopping bag handle sticking two hundred meters out of the ground, The Gateway Arch.

"That's what I want to do," Annabeth said with a sigh.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Build something like that. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods ever. Something that'll last a thousand years," she said, her eyes shining with excitement.

"You?" Percy asked with a laugh, "An architect?"

"Yes, an architect," Annabeth snapped with flushed cheeks. "Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention," she said before storming off towards the Arch.

"Where're you going?" Grover called.

"The Gateway Arch," Annabeth called back. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. The four weaved their way through the underground museum, looking at wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling but Harry for one was glad for a change of pace. Then he noticed Grover looking around nervously.

"You smell anything?" Harry asked

"Underground," Grover muttered distastefully. "Underground always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

With a 'ping' the elevator they were waiting for opened. They managed to squeeze into the tin box along with a big woman holding a small dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.

They started going up, inside the Arch. Harry had never been in an elevator before, especially not one that went in a curve and his stomach wasn't too happy about it.

"No parents with you dearies?" The big woman asked them.

Harry twitched, _'Why does everyone keep asking that?'  
_  
"They're below," Annabeth answered noticing Harry's discomfort, "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings," the Chihuahua in her arms growled at them.

"Now, now, sonny. Behave," the tiny dog had beady eyes, like it's owner, intelligent and vicious.

"Sonny, is that his name?" Percy asked.

"No," the lady said with a smile, as if that cleared everything up.

Getting off the elevator they reached the observation deck. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. Harry had never been this high up without his broom, he found it to be more than a bit breathtaking. Even the view from the Astronomy Tower paled in comparison.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger and designed a see-through floor. She probably could have stayed up there for hours, but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

Percy quickly steered them towards the elevator, he didn't like being this high up and in an enclosed space. Annabeth and Grover were loaded into the elevator and Percy was about to join them when he realized that two other tourists had already gotten in. No room for anyone else.

"Next car, sirs," the park ranger said.

"We'll get out. We'll wait with you," Annabeth said, she didn't want to separate after what happened to them on the bus and at Aunty M's.

"It's okay," Harry held his hand up. "We'll see you at the bottom."

Grover and Annabeth looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.

Now the only people on the observation deck were Percy, Harry, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

Harry smiled uneasily at the lady, she smiled back, her forked tongue flickering through her teeth…

Wait a minute… forked tongue?

Before Harry could wonder if he'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down from her arms and started yapping at him and Percy.

"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" the little boy said with a smile. "Look, a doggie!" his parents pulled him back.

The Chihuahua bared his teeth at Harry and Percy. Black foam dripped from his black lips.

"Well son," the lady sighed, "If you insist."

Percy's gut hitched, "Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," the lady corrected, "not a Chihuahua, though it's an easy enough mistake to make I suppose."

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing the skin on her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled Harry saw her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were vertical slits, like a reptile's.

The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark it grew. First, to the size of a Doberman, then to the size of a lion, the bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back towards the exit, straight into the park ranger who stood paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

The chimera was now so tall it's back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat and a… Harry closed his eyes and sighed… a snake for a tail, a three-meter-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind.

Around the Chimera's neck the rhinestone collar still hung and a plate sized dog tag hung from it.

CHIMERA - RABID, FIRE BREATHING, POISONOUS - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS - EXT 954.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might have been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, terrible Echidna!"

Harry and Percy were frozen at the appearance of the two new monsters, Echidna and her son Chimera. Harry didn't know what to say, Percy blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Echidna? Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, my son will destroy you both!"

"What?" Harry blurted out. "What'd I do?"

Echidna turned to him and her eyes widened in confusion.

"Y-You!" She screamed. "This should not be possible. You are not a Hunter of Artemis, no, you are of her blood. This cannot be… Not unless…" There was a flicker of fear in Echidna's eyes, but then it was replaced by rage.

"YOU!" She screamed in that shrill voice of hers. "YOU, HADRIAN POTTER, WILL PAY FOR ALL THE TIMES YOUR MOTHER KILLED MY CHILDREN WITH THAT LITTLE GROUP OF HERS! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR MOTHER'S CRIMES AGAINST ME! DESTROY BOTH OF THEM, SON!" Harry thought he might go deaf.

The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. Harry and Percy leaped aside in different directions, Percy to the left, Harry to the right. The family screamed along with the park ranger while trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.

Percy uncapped his pen and ran to the other side of the deck yelling, "Hey, Chihuahua!"

The Chimera turned to him and opened its mouth emitting a stench of sulphur and brimstone and shot out a column of flame straight at him. Percy dodged to the side just in time, the flames struck the wall and melted a huge hole in the metal where he had been standing.

Harry meanwhile had removed the army knife from his pocket and flipped out his sword. While the Chimera had its attention on Percy, Harry tried to attack from behind, the snake tail didn't take kindly to that. It lashed out strongly but Harry dodged at the last second and slashed his sword down through the snake's neck. The head fell to the ground and monster roared in pain as the head burst into golden dust.

"WHY?" Harry roared as he moved to assist Percy. "WHY IS IT _ALWAYS_ SNAKES?"

Percy jumped back to his feet and lunged at the Chimera. He swung his sword at the Chimera's neck. This was a mistake as Percy's sword sparked harmlessly off the dog collar.

The Chimera lunged and bit at Percy's sword, it was knocked out of his hand and through the melted hole in the wall and down towards the Mississippi river.

"Harry, I could use a hand here!" Percy called in desperation.

"I'm a little busy at the moment!" Harry yelled back, Percy noticed for the first time that Harry was on the back of the Chimera while the Chimera tried to buckle him off.

"They don't make heroes like they used to, eh son?" Echidna said with a cackle.

Chimera growled, it seemed in no hurry to finish the two demigods off. It swiped at Percy playfully like a cat batting at a ball of wool. Percy took a step back, this was a mistake, he tripped backwards over a chunk of melted metal and tumbled through the hole in the wall, into the open air.

"Percy!" Harry yelled as he saw his friend disappear. Fueled with a need to help him somehow Harry found a rush of strength, he jumped down from the Chimera and punched it in the face, hard enough to daze it.

Harry rushed to the hole and looked down just in time to see Percy's body hit the Mississippi. Remembering he was the son of Poseidon Harry hoped that the water protected his friend. Then he realized he was now alone with two monsters.

"Oh sure, leave me up here to deal with them!" Harry mumbled in annoyance and turned back to the monsters. The Chimera was growling at him.

"Roooaaarrr!" Chimera leapt at him, acting on instinct Harry rolled under Chimera and scrambled back to his feet slashing at the monster. Only to be batted away once again.

An idea popped into his head. The Chimera's back was right in front of the hole in the wall. He dodged another strike from the Chimera and leapt away from him in the direction opposite of Echidna and flipped out his wand. He was hoping this worked. He approached the Chimera slowly, when he was within about seven yards from it, it lunged. Harry closed his eyes and shouted, "_EXPELLIARMUS_!" with the right wand movement and dove out of the way. The Chimera roared. Harry opened his eyes and saw the Chimera flying out of the arch with such force that it widened the hole in the arch. He let out a sigh of relief.

"M-My son… you, what did you do!" Echidna roared.

"Oh, come on," Harry groaned.

"Sorry lady, dog was rabid, had to put it down," Harry said as he stood up and pointed his wand at Echidna.

"You! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Echidna roared. "I'll kill you!"

She lunged at him, but Harry was calm. He flicked his wand and said, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" Echidna stopped mid-air and began hovering. He walked to the hole, levitating her in front of him. She shouted insults at him, promised revenge, etc., etc.

Harry dropped her off the hole. "Safe journey!" He called out to her as she flailed wildly in mid-air.

He looked at the elevator as it pinged open and moved towards it.

He took a breath and turned and walked to the elevator. He stepped in and hit the 'G' button causing the doors to close. Harry leaned against the back of the Elevator; taking several deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

'Ping', the elevator doors opened a while later on the ground floor. Harry's hand fell to his side and his wand shifted back into the army knife and he quickly tucked it into his pocket and moved off to find his companions.

**-Line Break-**

**Dun! DUN! DUUUNNNNNN! **

**Okay bye for now, wonderful readers! Please R & R.**


	5. Another Camp? HUMANE Zoo Transport!

**Yay! Chapty-poo! Huzzah!**

**Sorry readers, I don't even know how or when it happened, so I figure it must be a mistake. Anyways, I apologize. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Thank you ****AECM****, ****thomaspheasant****, ****bob19h****, ****Rin Medeis** **and ****SoulfulKarma668** **for reviews. Appreciate it.**

**AECM****: Here it is.**

**thomaspheasant****: Thanks. Here you go.**

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**Onward to the story!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.**

**-Line Break-**

Harry weaved his way slowly through the crowd of emergency officials and news crews.

"Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation." a news lady said talking into a camera. "The damage as you can see, is very serious. There is some speculation as to whether the damage was caused by the sudden freak lightning storm. However, there are eyewitness reports of two people and a large dog falling from the arch just before the storm."

Harry continued on looking for Annabeth, Grover and Percy. He made his way towards the river where he'd last seen Percy.

"… two adolescent boys," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show two adolescent boys going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities…"

Harry backed away and kept his head down hoping that he wouldn't be recognized. Police, medics and reporters were everywhere.

"Harrr-y," a familiar voice bleated.

Harry turned around as he was tackled into a hug by someone with blond hair. Grover and Percy were there not far behind her.

"You okay man?" Percy asked looking guilty; after he'd fallen from the arch he realized that Harry was left alone. Annabeth backed away from him and tried to look angry, but really she was just relieved to see him.

"We thought you'd found your way to Hades the hard way! We left you and Percy alone for five minutes! What happened?" she shrieked.

"I sort of fell," Percy said.

"Six-hundred and thirty feet?" she asked before looking at Harry. "What about you? We saw a monster-like lady and animal falling down from the Arch!"

"I'll explain what happened but for now, we have to get out of here, the police…" Harry said looking over his shoulder.

The others looked confused and began to ask questions but Harry simply interrupted them.

"Come on!" Harry said and steered his friends away from the arch. As he did they overheard another reporter.

"Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that one of the boys who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted for questioning by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be heading west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."

They ducked around the news van and into an alley.

They half jogged back to the train station without being spotted. They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. After they got comfortable in their compartment Harry started explaining everything that happened. They looked at him in horror as he told them about the battle in the arch.

"So the woman which fell down was Echidna? And the large animal Chimera?" Annabeth asked shakily. Harry nodded.

"I bid her 'safe journey' as she fell." He said cheerfully. Everyone nodded and exhausted from the events of the day, settled in silence for a while.

The train trundled west as sun went down, police lights still pulsing against the St Louis skyline behind them.

Harry remembered something. He pulled out his laptop from his bag and switched it on. He admired the homescreen for a few moments before opening the menu.

The four items appeared on the menu screen. Harry decided to open Browser first. It had a default page, apparently. Harry looked at the URL. It was: _ .oly/hb/. _

The page appeared. It was made up with news like slides. The first one was:

_QUEST ISSUED - HEROES TO MASTER BOLT'S RESCUE!_

Harry with the help of the cursor swiped it away. He looked at the next one.

_HADRIAN POTTER - THE TRUTH REVEALED! ARTEMIS'S SON!?_

He opened the article and read it. It contained pretty much the same thing which his mother had told him in the scroll. Though with a lot more dramatic exclamations.

He went back and scrolled down. He saw various links with pictures.

_HEPHAESTUS TV. _It had a picture of a small television, with an ancient Greek 'Eta' in the middle.

The next was: _THE MOST AWESOME GOD EVER - LEARN POETRY, ORDER MEDICINES, AND MORE! _with a picture of a blonde man with a bright smile that made it impossible to look at him.

The third was: _HERMES OVERNIGHT EXPRESS! FIND EVERYTHING HERE! IDEAS FOR PRANKS, STRATEGIES FOR THEFTS INCLUDED! _A man with upturned eyebrows, who had a face that you instantly knew by looking at it that the person was a troublemaker, was standing grinning stupidly in the picture.

There was a drop-down arrow icon with More labeled beside it below the picture, but Harry scrolled down further, not interested in any of them.

Then something caught his eye.

There were two slides: on the left it was written _Camp Half-Blood _on an orange background. The right one though was the one that he found interesting. It was on a purple background, written _Camp Jupiter_. He clicked it.

The page opened and there were images of buildings. Harry noticed all of them were of Roman designs.

He scrolled down and found an article. His eyes widened as he read it.

"Annabeth." He called. The other two had fallen asleep. She looked up from the book she was reading. He gestured for her to come over. She placed the book down and came over. He tilted the laptop so she could read it.

_Camp Jupiter is a place for Roman demigods to train; it is the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood. This camp lays more emphasis on discipline, loyalty and duty. It is currently located in California, in San Francisco. _

_Demigods come here to join the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, after finishing their training with the she-wolf Lupa, the Mother of Rome. The Legion is generally leaded by two Praetors, who are advised by the Senate._

_The Legion consists of five cohorts, each of which has its own Centurions, which lead their respective ones._

_After serving the Legion for ten years, the demigods can attend college in New Rome and lead a peaceful life._

_New Rome is a city guarded by the Roman campers of Camp Jupiter in order to be a refuge for Roman demigods, legacies, nature spirits, and minor gods. It is located somewhere along the Little Tiber and Romans must serve ten years in the legion to live and retire there. _

_The city is a sacred 'safe zone'; no weapons are allowed inside the Pomerian Line that defines its boundaries. This is guarded and enforced by Terminus, the statue god of boundaries._

_The citizens of New Rome are almost all veterans of the legion, some of whom apparently have seats in the Senate where they advise the current praetors; these veterans are also called upon as a reserve force to defend New Rome._

There was a link at the bottom to description of New Rome, so Harry opened it.

_The buildings are made of white marble with red-tiled roofs and include townhouses and shops (in addition to the domed Senate house), a forum studded with statues and columns, and models of the Circus Maximus and the Coliseum. _

_Some of the marble buildings have domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others look like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens._

_The open plaza resembles an open-air market with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues._

_The Coliseum is five-story-tall that gleams in the sun, next to the Forum. It provides housing and education for demigods and their families once their ten years with the legion are up. _

_Just outside of the city is Temple Hill, with temples to many of the Roman gods._

_Well, this is new, _Harry thought. He couldn't help but marvel at how much the Romans had thought and built. He also wondered why they never thought of creating a New Athens.

He said to Annabeth, "Hey, why don't we show this to Chiron and ask if we can build something like that? It will take time, sure, but it will be worth it for the future generations. The Athena cabin can architect it."

Annabeth seemed to think about it for a moment then nodded. "That could work. Though I still don't know why we didn't know of this camp before."

"Quoting Chiron, Annabeth, 'The gods have their reasons.'" Harry said using air-quotes.

She gave a frustrated sigh, and nodded. Harry yawned. Annabeth went back to her seat. Harry decided to sleep for awhile. So he leaned back and settled into a more comfortable position and fell asleep.

**-Line Break-**

The next afternoon, June 14th, seven days before the solstice, the train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car. They hadn't bathed since leaving Camp Half-Blood.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

In the morning, Percy had explained what happened to him after he fell from the arch. When he hit the water he had a vision of a woman, a water spirit. She told him his father, Poseidon, wanted him to visit the Santa Monica beach.

"We can't use phones right?" Percy asked.

"We can't?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Using a phone is a really bad idea for Demigods," Annabeth explained. "It would be like sending up a flare to every monster for miles around. But I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered through downtown for about half an hour before Harry spoke up. "What're we looking for?"

"That," Annabeth said and pointed at an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They walked into the stall furthest out of sight, Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," Grover grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

Harry reached into his jeans pocket and grasped at the money he had remaining, buying tickets to Denver for the four of them had used up most of it. All he had remaining was a ten dollar bill, a five dollar bill, a couple of scrunched up singles and a handful of change. He tossed Grover a quarter.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, mirroring Harry's confusion.

Grover fed the quarters into the machine and set the knob to fine mist.

"I-M'ing," Grover answered.

"Instant messaging?" Percy asked.

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon a goddess… with a spray gun?" Harry asked with a smile.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to Harry, "Drachma please." Harry fished a golden drachma from his pocket and tossed it to her.

She raised the coin over her head. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept our offering," she threw the drachma into the mist. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

The mist rippled and suddenly they were looking the mist at strawberry fields and the Long Island Sound in the distance. The view from the porch of the Big House, the first view of the Camp Harry had seen. Standing with his back to them at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in short sand an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" Percy called.

He turned, eyes wide. "Percy!" his scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're… uh… fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty t-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought… Chiron… I mean…"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Are Grover and Harry all right?"

"We're here," Harry called stepping into view. "What kind of issues?"

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke explained. "Things are getting pretty tense here guys. Word leaked out about the Zeus / Poseidon stand-off. We're not sure how, probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. Ares and Apollo are backing Poseidon, Athena is backing Zeus. So what's your status? Chiron will be sorry he missed you," Luke asked. At that moment the beeper went off on the spray machine letting them know they only had a minute left before the water shut off. Percy quickly blurted out what happened to them so far on the quest, he stopped when the water shut off and Luke's face disappeared.

Annabeth seemed disturbed at the news, her cabin-mates, her siblings, were taking sides against her friend.

"Come on, let's find some dinner," Percy said.

A few minutes later the four were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking milkshakes and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner." Percy said.

"You kids have money to pay for it?" she asked in a mean tone, looking at their dirty clothes with disgust. She reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia.

Grover's lower lip quivered. Harry almost expected him to start bleating or eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger and Percy seemed to be struggling to come up with a sob story for the waitress. Harry on the other hand rolled his eyes in annoyance and a little anger, he been through a lot in the past few days, compared to that, this rude waitress wasn't all that threatening.

"Do you always ask your customers for money before they've even ordered?" Harry asked roughly making her take a step back. "Three cheese burgers and four fries, a portion of onion rings and four chocolate milkshakes." Harry ordered as he fished his remaining money out of his pocket and placed it on the table for her to see.

The waitress hurried off with the order, not waiting to be scolded by the angry twelve-year-old again.

The others thanked him for dealing with the situation and buying their meals, Grover was thankful for Harry remembering he was vegetarian.

As they waited for their meal they discussed how they would continue their journey west now that they were completely out of cash and had no ride. Harry had his Gringotts card, but then they would have to find an ATM. Harry snapped out of his thoughts when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run crying for their mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh.

He wore red wraparound shades and he had the cruelest, most brutal looking face they'd ever seen. Handsome, but wicked, with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

As he walked into the diner a hot dry wind blew through the place. Everybody watched him as if they were hypnotized, he waved his hand dismissively and as if a spell was broken, everybody went back to their meals and conversations.

To the group's horror, the biker grabbed a spare chair, placed it at the end of their booth and sat down. He looked directly at Percy.

"So, you're old Seaweed's kid huh?" he then turned to Harry and sneered, "And you must be Arte's kid, Potter. You should have seen dear old daddy-oh's face when she claimed you. He was so furious he struck quite a few random places with lightning and threatened to banish her to her temple for a millennium." He laughed.

They should have been surprised, or scared, instead the biker seemed to emit an aura of hatred.

"What's it to you?" Percy snapped. Harry didn't blame him, just being near this guy made him angry for some reason.

Annabeth's eyes flashed a warning towards her friend. "Percy, this is-"

The biker raised his hand to silence her. "S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am little half-bloods?"

"You're Clarisse's dad." Percy said. "Ares, god of war."

Ares took off his shades with a grin and where his eyes should have been there was only fire.

"That's right punk," He turned to Percy, "I heard you broke Clarisse's spear," said the deity.

"In self defense," Percy muttered.

"That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for… Well, I heard you four were in town. I got a little proposition for you," and with that Ares began explaining the aforementioned proposition.

Ares wanted Harry and his companions to retrieve the war god's shield from a water park where he had forgotten it on a date and bring it back to him. Harry could sense there was more to the story and a reason why Ares was unwilling to undertake the task himself. The group finally agreed to the chore, if only to get the temperamental god out of their presence without pissing him off. It was generally a good idea not to piss people off if one could help it and the rule applied even more for gods and goddesses… particularly this god. Once he had their agreement, the massive being stood and placed his shades back on.

"Glad to hear it punks," then he strode out of the diner and pulled a disappearing trick where the deity put every mortal in a trance as he calmly rode away. The four watched until he was no longer visible and then sighed in relief. After a brief discussion over what to do, they finished eating, paid and left to find the amusement park Ares had spoken of.

**-Line Break-**

They found the park fairly easily but also found that it was locked up tight. A quick _Alohomora _easily took care of the lock.

Annabeth smiled at Harry, "Nice trick."

He winked at her and gave her a grin, "Thanks."

Once the gate was open, the four cautiously made their way inside, and after a bit of searching the four friends eventually found the tunnel of love ride where Ares had indicated his shield might be. Annabeth and Harry climbed down into the boat at the bottom to retrieve the shield they could see perched inside the small vessel while Percy and Grover maintained a look-out. When the pair got down into the boat they could see mirrors aimed so that the riders could always see themselves via their reflections.

'_How conceited of them_,' Harry thought of the two deities, Ares and Aphrodite, who had likely used the ride on a date… which explained how Ares' shield came to be located in the amusement park, but not why he couldn't get it himself.

As soon as Harry touched the shield a trip wire was activated. The cupid statues adorning the water ride fired metal wire strands at each other and a net was quickly formed over them. Video cameras popped out of the heads of the cupid statues as Annabeth and Harry ran for the edge of the depression which normally held water for the boats to float on.

As spotlights blared a voice boomed over the loudspeaker, "Live to Olympus in one minute…Fifty-nine seconds...Fifty-eight seconds…."

"Hephaestus! I'm so stupid. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we are going to be broadcast to Olympus and look like absolute fools," Annabeth shouted.

Just then the mirrors opened up before thousands of tiny robotic spiders came at the two half bloods. Annabeth screamed in terror as Harry quickly hauled her back to the boat. The spiders started spraying tiny threads of metal over the two cornered campers to secure them to the boat. Annabeth was screaming the entire time. The daughter of Athena knew that while Hephaestus' trap might not kill his wife and Ares, who had the benefit of being gods, it most certainly could maim or even kill two half bloods.

Percy, standing above with Grover had finally had enough and refused to stand by and let his friends be hurt.

"To hell with this," He muttered as he threw his right hand out towards the huge water pipes which fed the ride when it was operating normally. At the son of Poseidon's command the pipes burst and watered rushed towards the two trapped half bloods.

Grover came up with the flying shoes and grabbed them both before they could drown.

"Ow!" He moaned. "Your heavy!" But _somehow _carried them down in a safe landing whatsoever.

The shield in hand, they quickly made their way out of the park.

**-Line Break-**

After leaving the park behind, the quartet found Ares waiting for them in the parking lot of the diner where they had previously encountered the god of war.

"Well, well… you didn't get yourselves killed little half-bloods, must say, I'm a little impressed," Ares mocked.

Harry could sense that it irked the aggressive deity when his taunts didn't even garner a reaction out of them, ignoring it he handed the war god his shield and stepped back.

"I bet that crippled blacksmith was really surprised when instead of his expected catch, he netted a couple of punk half-blood kids. You look good on TV by the way," Ares taunted the trio again.

"For the entire two seconds we were on, I would imagine we did," Harry deadpanned with a calm straight face, much to the ire of Ares.

Finally, after staring them for a bit, the war god shrugged. "See that truck over there. That's your ride. It'll take you straight to LA with one stop in Vegas," the god informed the four campers as he pointed to an eighteen wheeler across the street.

The side of the truck had the words 'KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT, WARNING LIVE WILD ANIMALS.'

"And before I forget, here's a little something for doing the job for me," Ares added as he handed Harry a blue nylon backpack.

When the young wizard looked inside of the bag he found there were fresh clothes for four traveling youths, one hundred dollars in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas and a bag of double stuffed Oreos.

Harry nodded and looked up at the god. "Thanks… uncle," Harry responded just to get on Ares' nerves a bit more.

The god of war bristled at Harry, but merely watched as he walked off with Percy, Annabeth and a nervous Grover towards the tractor-trailer.

They watched in silence as the god of war straddled, started and rode off on his huge motorcycle, then they headed over to the parked semi to catch their… ride.

**-Line Break-**

As the group climbed into the trailer of the big rig, a smell reminiscent of a giant litter box hit Harry like a brick. Pinching his nostrils shut and not breathing, he ejected his wand from the army knife and lit it with a _Lumos_ spell, the four friends were met with the sight of three miserable and poorly cared for animals.

A zebra, an albino lion and a cousin to the antelope that Harry didn't know the exact name for, were caged inside the truck and were in very poor shape. The lion had a sack of turnips in its cage, while the antelope and the zebra each had a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat sitting in front of them. The cages themselves were very dirty and the animals' ribs were showing clearly, an indicator that they had not been properly fed in some time.

"This is _kindness_? _Humane_ zoo transport?" Grover yelled in shock.

Harry was furious. He hated mistreatment of animals, maybe it had something to do with his mother, or whatever, he just _hated _it.

Harry put a hand on his shoulder and calmed his satyr friend down before setting to work. He calmly walked to the cages and changed the food to the correct cages using switching spells and then proceeded to clean the cages and the animals with a few cleaning spells. After that, a few air freshening charms ensured the trailer was no longer so rank. The animals were happily digging in to their meals and seemed to be much more relaxed.

After that was taken care of, the group sat down and settled in for the long haul to Vegas. Grover curled up to sleep on a turnip sack, while Harry, Percy and Annabeth chatted quietly.

"I'm so sorry Harry, for freaking out about the spiders in the water park," Annabeth spoke up finally, breaking the repetitive sound of Grover's snores and the vibration of the big rig running over the highway.

"Because of the Arachne story right?" Harry inquired of his friend. "Arachne was turned into a spider for challenging your mother to a weaving contest if I remember correctly, right?"

"Yes and Arachne's children have been taking their revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there is a spider within a mile of me it will find me. I hate the creepy little things," she shuddered, "Anyway I owe you," Annabeth finished.

Harry grinned and shook his head, "Not at all, anything for a friend."

From there the half blood's conversation turned to what really happened with Thalia. Grover woke up at that point and helped Annabeth to recount the tale. Grover was the satyr sent to collect Thalia. The Camp administrators and the Council of Cloven Elders (the ruling Satyr body) knew Hades was after the dark haired girl so Grover wasn't supposed to stop for anything else. The newly assigned satyr guide didn't listen to them and at Thalia's insistence, decided to bring fourteen year old Luke and a seven year old Annabeth, Thalia's companions along with them to Camp. As a result the, they were spotted and the three half bloods and the satyr were attacked by the Furies and a number of other terrible monsters. Annabeth, Percy and Harry had to reassure Grover quite a bit that it was not his fault, that he did the right thing before the human goat hybrid eventually fell back to sleep.

Noticing the ring strung on Annabeth's necklace, Percy asked her about it.

"My dad sent it to me, folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her…That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and that he missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him," the pretty blonde explained as she rubbed the college ring.

"What happened," Harry softly asked.

"I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my step mom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked… I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to camp," Athena's daughter explained sadly.

"You think you'll ever try again," asked Percy.

"I'm not into self inflicted pain," Annabeth answered looking down.

"You should try again Annabeth. I'm sure your dad would love to get to know the beautiful person you've become," Harry told Annabeth as he pulled her in for a quick hug and then released her and Percy also hugged her. She smiled and sat next to Percy leaning on his shoulder.

Annabeth didn't answer them so they relaxed and played a few games, just getting to know each other better. He watched Percy and Annabeth, both blissfully unaware of their feelings, and smiled.

Eventually, they all joined Grover in the realm of Morpheus.

**-Line Break-**

Later, Harry was startled awake by Grover, who informed him quietly, that he and Annabeth believed the drivers were coming to check on the animals.

"Hide," Annabeth hissed as the door latch turned and pulled on her cap and vanished.

Harry pulled his cloak out and draped it over himself, Percy and Grover and they all shifted back against the wall of the trailer and waited quietly.

The drivers started to taunt the animals as soon as they had opened the doors of the trailer.

"I hope you like magic shows stripes. You're going to love this one. They're going to saw you in half," the driver taunted the zebra.

The animal turned to look towards them and he felt Percy stiffen briefly. Harry recalled from mythos that Percy's father had created horses and thought maybe Percy could communicate with them somehow? After all, he could talk to snakes, so it wasn't that far of a stretch. Annabeth knocked on the side of the trailer which got the driver to go check if his coworker was making the racket.

"This animal driving business can't be legal," Annabeth whispered harshly.

"The lion says they are animal smugglers," Grover informed his two companions.

_I did, and they are. Please free me, Prince of the Wild_, Harry heard a voice in his head. He looked around, stunned. Until he saw the lion looking right at him. He thought for a moment. His mother was the Goddess of Forests, and the lion was said to be the king of the forest. Makes sense. He nodded.

Percy nodded, "The zebra says so too."

The group quickly decided to free the three animals. Harry quickly opened the locked cages with his wand as Grover blessed each creature using satyr magic. The three escaped beasts would find the food and water they needed to survive until they made it safely into the wild. After accomplishing that task Harry, Percy, Annabeth and Grover slipped quietly out of the truck and took off running, not stopping until they eventually tired out, they found themselves standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. They were invited inside the building where Harry felt extremely weird from the moment he stepped across the entrance threshold. They were given plastic cards with unlimited money and tokens on the linked accounts. The strange feeling escalated for Harry and the situation was growing weirder and weirder as they were given complimentary suites and shown to them.

It only took the friends a few minutes to shower in their rooms.

They went down after that to play some games. Well, the other three played games while Harry roamed around. He found two kids named Bianco and Nicola di Angelo, a boy and a girl respectively. The girl was the younger of the two, and he introduced Harry to a card game based on Greek Mythology known as Mythomagic. After an hour or so, Harry's magic and his demigod heritage combined to allow him to realize that something seemed to be wrong with the hotel. Realizing the possible danger, Harry rapidly went to his room and dressed and packed his things and then grabbed his protesting companions from their respective games and dragged them out of the hotel. As soon as they were clear of the threshold, the fog seemed to lift from his friends minds.

Grabbing a newspaper Harry found that only a two and a half days had passed for the outside world in the short time the quartet had been within the hotel and sighed in relief. Luckily, they still had five more days until the summer solstice.

To get to Santa Monica quickly, the four friends hired another taxi, and Annabeth gave the driver the Lotus Cash Card. The meter showed the symbol of infinity. Harry figured the Lotus Cash Card would be very useful in some mortal businesses. They arrived in Santa Monica some hours later and made their way to the beach near the Santa Monica Pier where Percy waded out into the water to meet with his father while the rest of the foursome waited for him.

When he returned they discussed the information he had been given and decided to search for DOA Recording Studios. They made their way into West Hollywood by bus and from there they scouted around until eventually, they found it.

**-Line Break-**

**Whew! Another one done. Next one or next to next one will probably end the quest.**

**Guess the reason for the gender-swap? Huh? Should be pretty obvious.**

**Anyway - Hope you enjoyed!**

**Bye, awesome readers! See you next time! R & R.**


	6. The Underworld, The Truth, and Olympus

**Yes, yes, the annoying brat has written another annoying chapter. Huzzah, and all that. **

**Enjoy your annoying chapter you annoying brats.**

**(kidding ;P)**

**Thank you ****bob19h****, ****AECM****, ****goblin81****, ****Hortensia** **and ****DZ2** **for reviews.**

**bob19h****: Yep. There was a mistake though. I forgot to change their names. Fixed now, though. Congrats on guessing the reason!**

**AECM****: Glad to hear it.**

**goblin81****: Nah. Pan's power is meant for Grover and Grover alone. Appreciciate the suggestion though. No offense.**

**Hortensia****: Thanks.**

**DZ2****: That is true.**

**Thank you for for your kind words regarding the part of the chapter to your liking, good sir. I, ****dhairyasood748** **at ****FanFiction** **very much appreciate it. **

***hysterics***

**(No sarcasm was intended. Just for humor.)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.**

**-Line Break-**

When the quartet finally located the object of their search, they found themselves looking up at a plaque on the building with golden letters etched into black marble that read: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

Walking into the lobby, they could hear music being played softly on concealed speakers. They navigated their way through the crowd of unusual people standing in the lobby, all of them wearing clothing from various periods of history. The young wizard led the way up to the security desk which held a guard in an expensive Italian suit. The attendant's name tag read Charon.

"Good day to you Mr. Charon, we'd like to go to the underworld please," stated Harry.

"Well, well, I must say that's refreshing… someone actually willing to move on. Weird, anyways… how did you die," Charon questioned.

"We didn't," the green eyed boy responded.

Leaning forward the expensively dressed attendant sniffed them for a moment before growling out, "Leave… now… while you still can Godlings and take your satyr with you."

"Come now sir, we can make it worth your while," Harry said and enticed guardian of the entrance to the Underworld by withdrawing a handful of drachmas from the sack given to them by Ares.

"Do you think I can be bought Godling," Charon blustered briefly before he paused… then asked greedily, "err… just out of curiosity… how many do you have?"

Harry stacked twenty golden drachmas on the counter one by one until finally Charon spoke up, "Fine, fine… the boat is almost full anyways. I might as well add you four. Come along then," the boatman instructed as he snatched up the money.

Charon led the group to an area where spirits were already waiting to depart.

"Right… now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone and if anyone moves the dial off my easy listening station again I'll make sure you are here for another thousand years," Charon called out to the spirits remaining behind in the entrance lobby.

Charon took the four still living travelers into a key card controlled elevator. Once they were all inside, the lift started to descend once the guardian swiped his keycard.

"What happens to the spirits in the lobby?" Annabeth decided to ask.

"Nothing," Charon answered with a grin.

"For how long?" Athena's daughter queried.

"Forever… or until I'm feeling generous," was Charon's reply as the immortal boatman waved his hand casually about to signify his lack of concern for the spirits.

"Oh… um that's…fair," Annabeth stated, unsure what else to say.

"Now whoever said Death is fair young miss? Just you wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going," the boatman informed the young blonde.

Harry turned to face Charon and stated simply, "We'll see boatman… we'll see."

All of a sudden the elevator started to move forward instead of down and the spirits started to change shape around the four still living campers. The spirit's clothes turned into robes and the floor of the elevator began swaying slowly.

Charon's creamy Italian suit was then replaced by a black robe. His eyes changed to empty sockets of death and despair. The elevator had changed into a wooden barge. Charon was poling the small craft across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish and other, even stranger things… plastic dolls, crushed carnations and soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The river Styx, it's so…," Annabeth whispered, trailing off.

"Polluted," Charon summed the body of water up succinctly. "For thousands of years you mortals have been throwing in everything as you cross… hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management if you ask me," Charon finished.

The teens heard a growl off in the distance at that moment.

"Sounds like old Three-Face is hungry, bad luck for you little Godlings," Charon informed Harry, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover with a skeletal grin.

After the four friends departed the barge onto the black sandy shore the three part deities and one satyr came to an archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each of the three entrances had a pass through metal detector with security cameras. Beyond that there were toll booths manned by black robed ghouls like Charon. Two of the lines were marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY while the third was marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving fast while the other two were the opposite.

"That fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields, no contest. Souls who enter that line don't want to risk judgment from the court because it might go against them. The court is made up of three judges who are rotated. People like King Minos, Thomas Jefferson and Shakespeare sit on the bench. They look on a life and judge it. The judged could receive the special reward of the Fields of Elysium or a punishment. Most people just lived, good or bad, so go to the fields of Asphodel," Annabeth explained.

"Those would be like standing in a wheat-field in Kansas forever," Grover added his two cents.

Harry winced at the descriptions but continued leading the way. Further up the path where it split into three routes the quartet of living could see the green mist converge into a dark shape. The shadowy form was Cerberus, a huge black Rottweiler with three heads and he was staring right at them. Harry quickly wondered if the Cerberus might have the same weaknesses as Fluffy did. The young wizard pulled a small magical music box out of his pocket out of his pocket and turned it on. Almost instantly the giant canine's eyes began to droop. Before long the three headed beast was sleeping on his front paws.

"Let's go," Harry whispered to his companions.

Almost as soon as the quartet made it past Cerberus, Harry, Percy, Annabeth and Grover hid under the cloak (which expanded to accommodate them all), they quickly passed through the metal detector of the EZ death line. The cloak hid the trio as apparently even death couldn't find them under it.

The fields of Asphodel stretched on into infinity with countless people just standing on the endless expanse, doing absolutely nothing. The black grass had been trampled by eons of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees which Harry recognized as poplars grew in clumps here and there. The ceiling was very high up with stalactites that glowed faintly gray with wicked points.

The dead souls had faces which shimmered as they looked angry or confused. A living viewer couldn't understand the expressions playing across the shimmering faces of the no longer living. They weren't scary, just sad. The campers followed the line as it went towards a pavilion with the banner JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION, Welcome Newly Deceased! Two smaller lines came out of the back of the pavilion.

In the left line, security ghouls escorted spirits down the rocky path to the fields of punishment. Even from the distance he was concealed at Harry could see the fields were not a pleasant place. The line from the right led to a small valley surrounded by walls. This gated community seemed to be the only happy part of the underworld. There were houses from every era in history. He could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking, Elysium definitely sounded like a pleasant place to spend eternity.

In the center of Elysium there was a lake with a small island. This was the Isle of the Blessed for those people who chose to be reborn and achieved Elysium three times.

"That's what it's all about. That's the place for true heroes," Annabeth whispered as she looked at the island.

The invisible friends walked further until they left the chattering spirits behind and things got darker. In the distance was a palace of glittering black obsidian. The three furies were circling the parapets.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover asked nervously.

"Everything will turn out ok," Harry reassured his friends confidently.

Percy nodded, "We'll get through this… together."

Suddenly Luke's enchanted shoes took off, dragging Grover along with them. Annabeth, Percy and Harry followed after him, screaming his name.

They went down a tunnel that opened up in front of a huge pit. Harry immediately recognized it as the entrance to Tartarus, the deepest part of the Underworld. Grover hooves ultimately saved him from falling down into the pit.

Harry heard a faint whispering coming from down the pit and immediately recognized the language too, as the Language of Magic itself. He had read in some books on History of Magic (not Binns's Goblin Wars) that it was a very old language, _very _old. He again realized the danger and the quartet made their way back up through the tunnel, and a gust of wind almost blew them off their feet and back down the tunnel. They continued on, after hearing a loud veil of outrage (that sent chills down Harry's back) when they reached the top of the tunnel.

**-Line Break-**

The group made their way quickly to Hades' palace where they were greeted by wide open doors. There were scenes of death etched into the murals on the walls. In Hades' home there was also a garden filled with mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and large clumps of raw jewels.

"The garden of Persephone, it's extremely dangerous, we have to keep moving," Annabeth ordered briskly.

Harry remembered the story of the garden from mythos as well. One bite of that fruit and they would never be able to leave Hades' domain. The demigods quickly dragged the plant loving Grover away from Persephone's lures. Then the three stepped into the house of Hades. Harry and his companions were greeted by skeletal guards. Some of the sentinels wore Greek armor while some wore red coats or even some American Military uniforms. Their weapons varied from spears to M-16s. The foursome went strangely unchallenged as they made their way to the big door at the end of the main entrance hall.

Harry and Percy led the way cautiously into the throne room of Hades. The ruler of the Underworld was ten feet tall at least, dressed in black silk robes and wore a crown of braded gold. The Lord of the Underworld had albino white skin and he sported jet black shoulder length wasn't overly muscular, but he radiated power and darkness. He bore a recognisable resemblance to Bianco and Nicola di Angelo, the two kids he had met at the Lotus Casino, and Harry realized that they were children of Hades. He must have put them there hide them from his brothers. Clever indeed.

The immortal ruler sat upon a throne of fused human bones and he looked very, very dangerous.

Hades exuded a powerful, dark and charismatic aura and his mystique reminded Harry of his encounters with Voldemort, but on a far grander scale. This man was a sun compared to Voldemort's campfire. They all could feel that aura affecting them, Grover whimpered in fear.

"You are brave to come here Son of Poseidon. After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps… you are simply very foolish," Hades spoke in an oily voice.

"Lord and Uncle I have come with a request," Percy responded strongly as the dark haired demigod stepped forward.

Hades sat forward in his throne with a raised eyebrow, curiosity showing in his intelligent eyes. At that moment the young wizard noticed that his divine Uncle's clothes seemed to be woven of tormented souls of the damned.

"A request? Such an arrogant child, as if you haven't already taken enough… Speak then boy, it amuses me not to strike you dead… yet," the God stated.

"I respectfully request you give Zeus' master bolt to me, so that I can return it to Olympus where it belongs," Percy began calmly.

"You dare! You dare to keep up this pretense with me after what you have done," Hades roared as his eyes flared dangerously.

"Lord Hades, you keep saying after what he has done. What exactly _is _it that he has supposedly done?" Harry questioned with honest confusion.

Hades calmed a little. He looked at Harry, and said, "Ah, yes, descendent of Ignotus Peverell," he began, and Harry froze. "My legacy." Harry was shocked. He knew a legacy was, how could he be one of Hades? Unless...

"Yes." He confirmed. "The Peverells were, indeed, my children. Why do you think Thanatos gave each of them an item that are called"-he used air quotes-"'Deathly Hallows' in Hecate's domain? _I _ordered him to do so. The crossed the River Styx without the ferry, so I rewarded them." He said, then looked at Harry and his eyes went to Harry's scar, and he frowned.

"I can sense another's soul living within you, Hadrian. Come forward." Harry hesitated at first, then, went forward. Hades got up from his throne, then shrank down to his mortal size and let Harry approach him.

He pressed his hands to Harry's scar, Harry felt nothing but immense pain as his scar opened up, and he groaned. Then he felt as though something was coming out of his scar and then the pain subsided. He could feel blood trickling down his face. Hades ran a finger down his scar, and Harry felt it close up and his face cleaned up.

Hades was holding something black in his hand. It tried to get out of its grip. But Hades clutched it tightly in his hand. There was dark wail for a few seconds.

The expression Hades face was of utter fury. The whole throne room shook.

"So _that's_ how he escaped me." It clicked for Harry. Voldemort had cheated death. But that meant…

Harry was horrified. He had carried a part of Voldemort's soul inside his scar for almost 11 years!?

Then he went back to his throne. He looked at Percy, and as though remembering something, bellowed, "Do you think I _want _war, Godling?"

"As the Lord of the Dead wouldn't a war expand your kingdom?" Annabeth asked with genuine curiosity.

"That's a typical misconception little half-blood!" Hades growled out, "Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"

"We did sir," answered Harry and Percy.

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in the last century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open? More security ghouls, traffic problems at the judgment pavilion, double overtime for the staff… these are but a few of the problems which plague me. I used to be a rich god! I hold control of all the precious metals under the earth, but my expenses…," the incredulous god shouted.

"You were the thief on the winter solstice!" He cried pointing at Percy, "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. Yes, I see his game clearly, he directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open, boy! You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief and I will have my helm back!" Hades shouted, ending his accusation.

"Wait, Lord Hades, your helm is missing too?" Annabeth asked.

"Don't play the fool with me girl! You have been helping this little hero all along. Poseidon sent you here to blackmail me into helping him no doubt. I have said nothing of the helms disappearance because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for it to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So… I searched for you myself and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you," Hades explained, "after all, you were delivering yourselves into my hands freely… rather convenient for me!"

Harry internally snorted, but remained silent. This was not the time to press the already extremely angry Lord of the Dead.

"Return the helm now or I will stop death. That is my counter-proposal to you, Perseus Jackson. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into your world. I will make your lands a living nightmare. And you Perseus Jackson, your skeleton will lead the army out of Hades," Hades finished threatening them as his skeleton soldiers took a step forward with their weapons ready.

"You're as bad as Zeus," Percy said angrily. "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"

"Of course," Hades said.

"And the other monsters?"

Hades curled his lip. "I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you-I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"

"Easily?"

"Return my property!"

"But I don't have your helm. I came for the master bolt."

"Which you already possess!" Hades shouted. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could you threaten me!"

"But I didn't!"

"Open that pack, then." He said, looking at Harry.

A horrible feeling struck Harry. The weight in his backpack, it had become very heavy since they entered the underworld. It couldn't be...

He slung it off my shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

"Harry," Percy said. "How-"

"I-I don't know. I don't understand."

"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus's master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now... my helm. Where is it?"

They were all speechless. They had no helm. Harry had absolutely no idea how the master bolt had gotten into that backpack. Harry realized that they'd been played with. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had been set at each other's throats by someone master bolt had been in the backpack, and they'd gotten the backpack from…

"Lord Hades, wait," Harry said. "This is all a mistake."

"A mistake?" Hades roared.

The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne. The one with Mrs. Dodds's face grinned at Percy eagerly and flicked her whip.

"There is no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come-I know the real reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _her_."

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of them, and there was a woman, which Harry assumed to be Percy's mother.

"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."

"Ah, the pearls," Hades said suddenly. "Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Perseus Jackson."

Percy brought out four green pearls from his pocket.

"Only four," Hades said. "What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."

He looked at the rest of them. Their faces were grim.

"We were tricked," Harry said. "Set up."

"Yes, but why?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know yet," Percy said. "But I intend to ask."

"Decide, boy!" Hades yelled.

"Percy." Grover put his hand on Percy's shoulder. "You can't give him the bolt,"

"I know that."

"Leave me here," he said. "Use the third pearl on your mom."

"No!"

"I'm a satyr," Grover said. "We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."

"No." Annabeth drew her bronze knife. "You two go on. Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your searcher's license and start your quest for Pan. Get his mom out of here. I'll cover you. I plan to go down fighting."

Harry was about to volunteer when Percy shouted, "Stop it, both of you!"

"I know what to do," He said. "Take these."

He handed each of them a pearl.

Harry said, "But, Percy… "

"I'm sorry," Percy said, looking at the woman. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."

The smug look on Hades's face faded. He said, "Godling... ?"

"We'll find your helm, Ancestor." Harry promised. "We'll return it."

"Do not defy me-"

Percy shouted, "Now, guys!"

They smashed the pearls at their feet. For a scary moment, nothing happened.

Hades yelled, "Destroy them!"

The army of skeletons rushed forward, swords out, guns clicking to full automatic. The Furies lunged, their whips bursting into flame.

Just as the skeletons opened fire, the pearl fragments at their feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. They all were encased in different milky white spheres, which were starting to float off the ground.

Hades yelled with such rage, the entire fortress shook and they knew it was not going to be a peaceful night in L.A.

"Look up.'" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"

Sure enough, they were racing right toward the stalactites, which Harry figured would pop their bubbles and skewer us.

"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted.

"I don't think you do!" Percy shouted back.

They screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and... Darkness.

For a few moments, they couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of their spheres, then they broke through on the ocean floor. They soared upward through the water. And then- ker-blam!

They exploded on the surface, in the middle of the Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant, "Dude!"

Harry felt Percy grab him and haul him over to a life buoy. He did the same to Annabeth and Grover. A curious shark was circling them, a great white one about eleven feet long.

Percy said, "Beat it."

The shark turned and raced away.

The surfer screamed something about bad mushrooms and paddled away from us as fast as he could.

In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades's fault. He was probably sending an army of the dead after them right now.

But at the moment, the Underworld wasn't their biggest problem.

They had to get to shore. They had to get Zeus's thunderbolt back to Olympus. Most of all, they had to have a serious conversation with the god who'd tricked them.

**-Line Break-**

A Coast Guard boat picked them up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

They dropped them off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Their clothes were sopping wet.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said, "we went all that way…"

Harry nodded as Percy gave her a hug, "It was a well thought out plot, whoever did this not only fooled Ares into helping them, they set us up, Percy in particular, to take the fall and start a three way war between Hades, Zeus and Poseidon." Harry shivered, "whoever it is, they must be powerful."

The others shivered too and Annabeth spoke again, "The prophecy was right though, we just had the wrong god… we went west and faced the god who turned… Ares," frowning in thought she continued, "Hades didn't want war and the theft of his symbol makes this much worse. The question is… who is manipulating Ares; I doubt he could pull this off himself… it's far too subtle." The sound of a motorcycle cut her off and they turned to see where it was coming from.

Down at the end of the beach waiting for the three campers in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, Ares climbed off his bike and stood facing them with an aluminum baseball bat held casually on his shoulder. The god of war's motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand blood red.

"Hey there, kids… you were supposed to die in the Underworld," Ares announced in a voice that sounded like he was genuinely pleased to see his half-nephew and cousin.

"Sorry to disappoint but we rarely do what we're supposed to. So… just out of curiosity… why did you steal the helm and the master bolt," Harry inquired calmly.

"Well, now, I didn't steal them personally see. Gods taking each other's symbols of power… that's a _big_ no-no. But, you're not the only little heroes in the world who can run errands," Ares answered with a grin.

"Since we're likely to die anyway could you tell us who you used? Was it Clarisse?" Percy probed curiously.

"Doesn't matter, the point is kids you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing his brat. Corpse Breath will have Zeus' master bolt and will have killed my little brother, so Zeus will be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this…," the war deity explained as he pulled a ski cap like a bank robber would wear out of one of his leather saddle bags.

As soon as Ares placed the ski cap onto the handlebars of his bike it transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The Helm of Darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly, now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going," Ares explained.

"But… they're your family," Annabeth protested.

"Best kind of war girlie. It's always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say," Ares answered her with a shrug.

"You gave me the backpack in Denver. The master bolt was in there the whole time," Harry spoke up to try to get his bloodthirsty half-uncle to reveal more of his misdeeds.

"Well… yes and no. It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brains to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like those weapons you got, kids. They always return to your pockets, right?" Ares clarified glancing at Harry and Percy.

"Anyway I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades… and bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way… well, no loss since I still had the weapon," Ares explained.

"But… why not just keep the master bolt for yourself? Why send it to Hades," Harry prompted in confusion.

"Why didn't I… yeah… I mean, with that kind of firepower…" mused the deity aloud before going into a trance for a few seconds.

Harry exchanged nervous glances with Percy and Annabeth and Grover as it appeared that Ares was almost under some kind of external control, like the imperious curse. Whoever or whatever was strong enough to put a god under something like the imperious curse was pretty damn powerful.

Finally, the god spoke in a more monotone voice, his eyes slightly dull, "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red handed, holding the thing," Ares declared as his face cleared.

"You're lying! Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't even your idea… was it," Harry accused.

"Of course it was," Ares growled as smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

"You didn't order the theft. Someone else sent a half blood to acquire the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something or someone… convinced you to let him go. You kept the items hidden until another hero could come along and be duped into completing the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around," Percy spoke aloud as he remembered the conversation of his dream vision between the thief and the thing in the pit.

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I have no dreams," Ares shouted.

"Who said anything about dreams?," questioned Harry, catching the slip.

Harry could see that Ares was very agitated but tried to cover it with a smirk.

"Let's get back to the problem at hand kids. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hard headed idiots to listen to you. So… I've got to kill you. Nothing personal," Ares informed them.

Ares snapped his fingers and a wild boar larger than the one that hung above the door of the Ares cabin at camp exploded out of the sand at the war god's feet. As the massive beast charged towards the quartet Percy waved his hand causing a wave to sweep up and pull the squealing boar into the ocean.

"Fight me yourself coward. I'll make you a wager. If I win I take the helm and bolt and you leave us alone with safe passage. If you win you take both and I die," wagered the Son of Poseidon.

"Percy no! You can't," Annabeth whispered.

"How would you like to get smashed punk, classic or modern," Ares asked in response as he swung the bat off his shoulder.

In answer Percy showed Ares his sword as he uncapped Riptide.

"That's cool dead boy. Classic it is," growled the god as his bat changed into a large two handed sword with a skull biting a ruby for a hilt.

"Percy don't do this. He's a god," Annabeth tried again urgently, a pleading evident in her tone.

Harry placed a hand on her shoulder, "I got his back." With that, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his Swiss knife and flipped out his own sword as he stepped over near Percy. Annabeth gave them each a tearful hug, and Grover a handshake and then the two stepped clear.

"Two on one… hardly changes anything, I'll kill you both and then kill your friends. You all done with saying your goodbyes? I've been fighting for an eternity kids. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?" Ares boasted as he stepped forward, closer to his mortal opponents.

"A smaller ego." Harry replied simply as he closed. The war god swung overhead and brought his sword down in a vicious attempt to cleave the young wizard in half, but Harry was no longer there, the wind seemed to be pushing him, increasing his speed so that to everyone but Ares he was a blur. The two exchanged a rapid fire series of blows, Harry constantly ducking and dodging. After a few minutes, the two separated and it was clear that the battle was not going how Ares intended. His massive body was littered with wounds seeping golden ichor. Of course, Harry had not escaped unscathed either, as he too had a number of bloody wounds on his body. Breathing hard, he backed away and instinctively released a massive blast of air which caught the war god off guard and tossed him into the water.

Percy immediately sprung into action, the water carrying him in close and lending him the strength to stand toe to toe with Ares. The two fought viciously for a couple of minutes until Ares managed to disarm Percy. In close now, the war god drew back a meaty fist and swung it with killing force at his friend. Percy managed to dodge just in time ducking under the blow he spun back around and as he turned his fist was encased in high pressure water. He completed his spin and managed to connect with Ares jaw with a titanic punch that would have pulverized a mortal and it sent the war god flying twenty feet through the air to impact well up the beach.

Taking this as his cue Harry turned his sword into a bow and began rapidly firing arrows at the temporarily down war god. After the sixth arrow or so, Ares got up. Harry had managed to impale him in many places, enough to wound, but they were not fatal.

He was limping towards Harry, but Percy blasted him with water. He'd managed to get his sword back.

Ares turned and walked towards him. Percy was in the water. Harry could see the tide slowly building behind Percy. Percy lowered his blade, as if too exhausted to go on. Ares grinned confidently.

Harry realized what Percy was doing. He was luring Ares to come into the surf, and then will release the tide. And then, while he was disoriented, strike him.

And Ares was taking the bait.

As soon as he stepped in the surf, Percy released the tide.

A six-foot wall of water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of seaweed.

Harry couldn't make out what Percy was doing. When in water, he was just a blur, much like Harry in forests.

Ares suddenly let out a roar that would have Hades's earthquake seem like a minor event.

The very sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

He limped toward Percy, muttering ancient Greek curses.

Something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded. Sound and color drained away. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making Harry feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned. He lowered his sword.

"You have made an enemy, godling," he told Percy "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle-" Ares would have continued, but he was so focused on Percy that he didn't notice Harry launching an arrow at his face, thus the arrow impaled him right in his lower jaw. Ares glared at Harry very menacingly.

His body began to glow and he threw his sword at Harry. Harry, surprised, managed to dodge most of it, though it still left a deep cut just below his left shoulder and he cried out in pain.

''Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"

Harry turned away as Ares revealed his true form. Percy did the same.

The light died.

The injured god of war was gone when the young wizard looked back.

On the beach, Percy picked up Hades' helm of darkness and Harry joined them after healing himself with the help of nectar and some healing spells he learned by watching Madam Pomfrey as the group turned when they heard a leathery flapping of wings to see the three furies land in front of them a few moments later.

"We saw the whole thing. So… it truly wasn't you?," the fury formerly known as Miss Dodds said to Percy.

"Return that to Lord Hades. Tell him the truth and to call off the war," Percy instructed the surprised fury as he tossed her the helm.

She hesitated, then ran a forked tongue over her green, leathery lips. "Live well, Perseus Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again..."

She cackled, savoring the idea. Then she turned to Harry. "That goes for you too, Hadrian Potter, descendent of Ignotus Peverell. Bring pride to your ancestor's name. Our lord holds the Peverells above all his other previous children. Do not let him down."

Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.

They joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at them in amazement.

"That was so incredibly ..." Grover started.

"Terrifying," said Annabeth.

"Cool!" Grover corrected.

"Did you guys feel that… whatever it was?," Harry questioned while thinking of the dreaded feeling.

The three nodded before Grover speculated, "It must have been the Furies flying overhead."

Harry knew the presence wasn't the three monsters because whoever was manipulating the war god was more powerful than Ares and the Furies were not even remotely in the same class as the war god.

Percy shook his head, "No… I've felt that before. In my dreams, the… whatever it is in Tartarus. It must be what's behind all of this."

Harry nodded, "Agreed. We need to get back to New York and head off this war… then we can figure out who was trying to start it and how to stop them for good." Looking around, his eyes fell on Ares motorcycle and a grin formed on his face… "I have an idea."

**-Line Break-**

Somehow, the bike expanded enough so they could all fit and it could fly… Harry loved magic. He activated the invisibility feature and quickly got them in the air and set off Northeast, on a general heading for New York. After what felt like an hour, they saw the city ahead.

"Holy crap this thing is fast," Percy shouted.

A short time later, the bike landed near the Empire State Building. Then they wondered that if things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe them and decided to kill them, who would tell the truth to Chiron? Fortunately, Grover volunteered to do so and the problem was solved. .

Annabeth pointed to the security desk and led them there. They stood in front of the desk man.

"Harry Potter, son of Artemis." Harry said. He pointed at his companions, "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Six hundredth floor please."

"No such floor, kiddies."

He did not even bother to look up from the book when he spoke as if they were not important enough. It made Harry want to smash his face onto the desk. His irritation mounted further when I recognized the book he was reading. Just when he thought he had seen the last of that idiot Lockhart...

"We need an audience with Zeus."

He gave Harry a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

"You heard me."

"No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."

Before anyone could react, Harry took out his Swiss knife and flipped out his wand. He levitated the book out of his hands, and once out of his reach, he burned it.

Harry opened the backpack and took out the master bolt and and quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I am sure you understand now that he is expecting us." Harry said.

He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card and then handed it to Harry.

"Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."

They did as he told them. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Harry slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600.

He pressed it and they waited, and waited.

Muzak played. "Raindrops keep falling on my head..."

Finally, ding. The doors slid open. Harry did a double take at the sight before him.

They were standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below them was New York, from the height of an airplane.

In front of them, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. Harry's eyes followed the stairway to its end, where an equally shocking sight awaited him.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces-a city of mansions-all with white-columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound up in a serpentine way to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow.

There were precariously perched gardens with olive trees and rose-bushes. He could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other.

It was, for all hints and purposes, an Ancient Greek city without considering the fact that it wasn't in ruins. It was new, clean and colorful, the way Athens must have looked three thousand years ago.

Seeing this made Diagon Alley seem like an ordinary small shopping alley. Harry really wished the people of my magical society could see it. Then they would realise that they still had a long way to go rather than walk around so convinced about their supremacy. For the record, he was certainly not talking about the males having platinum blond hair or the one who always wore a lime green bowler hat.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?", Annabeth said smiling. "This is my tenth time here and I am still awed."

"Yeah." Percy replied dazed.

"It would make a good model to base our plans on." Harry replied.

By the gleam in her eyes, Harry knew that Annabeth was already going through everything with a critical eye noting the pros and cons of every feature.

His trip through Olympus took an interesting turn.

The previously giggling wood nymphs bowed to him as he passed them as if he was the King himself. Harry figured it had something to do with his mother being the goddess of forests.

Hawkers in the market offered to sell them ambrosia-on-a-stick, a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus-TV.

The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered-satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who Har assumed were the minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood, as if they already knew about our success. He guessed travelling in Zeus' domain carrying his symbol of power was as good as announcing their success.

They climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld.

There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything glittered white and silver.

Harry figured that Hades must have built his palace to resemble that one. He was not welcome in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he built his own Olympus underground.

The steps led up to a central courtyard and then the throne room.

Just before they entered it, a guy in a Fed-Ex like uniform carrying a phone in his hand appeared in front of them where there was only thin air before.

"Annabeth Chase," he said momentarily looking up from the phone.

They looked at her unsure as to how to handle the present situation.

"Yes, Lord Hermes."

"Your mother is expecting you," he replied and vanished.

None of them were stupid enough to not know of the word 'now' that was unspoken but understood.

"Annabeth, go talk to your mother. We will handle it." Percy revealed his decision.

Annabeth looked conflicted as if she was fighting an internal battle of her own.

"The last time I believed your words and left you both with each other, you fought Chimera and Echidna while I was outside biting my nails in worry."

She looked at both of them scrutinising them and sighed.

"Just take care, guys. If I don't find you both alive when I return, I will go on another quest to the Underworld and bring you both back alive just so I can personally torture you to death." Annabeth said while handing the bag to Percy.

They entered the throne room. Well, it was more of a hall than a room, an extremely large hall. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations.

Twelve thrones, built for beings scaling twelve feet, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left.

They did not have to be told who the gods awaiting our arrival were. They slowly approached them.

The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been.

Zeus, the King of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes stormy gray.

As they got nearer to him, the air crackled and smelled of ozone.

The god sitting next to him was without a doubt his brother but he was dressed very differently. While Zeus' dress sense resembled a CEO of a multinational company, Poseidon's resembled a guy vacationing in a tropical beach.

He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it.

His skin was deeply tanned and his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black like Percy's. His face even had that same brooding look that Percy had.

But his sea green eyes, Percy's eyes, were surrounded by sun-crinkles as if he smiled a lot.

His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident flickering with green light around the tips, the same bronze trident that was part of Percy's symbol of claiming.

The gods were not moving or speaking but there was tension in the air as if they had just finished an argument. They could feel the residue of the power let out by them during the moments of heightened emotional state.

Percy approached the fisherman's throne and knelt at his feet.

"Father."

Harry himself knelt at Zeus's throne's feet.

Zeus spoke, "Should you not address the master of this house first, boy?"

"Peace, brother." Poseidon said. "The boy defers to his father. This is only right."

"You still claim him then?" Zeus asked menacingly. "You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"

_You talk a lot for a god who was the first one to break the said oath_, Harry thought viciously.

"I have admitted my wrongdoing." Poseidon said. "Now I would hear him speak."

Harry cringed. Wrongdoing. That was going to hit Percy hard.

"I have spared him once already." Zeus grumbled. "Daring to fly through my domain... pah! I should have blasted him out of the sky for his impudence."

"And risk destroying your own master bolt?" Poseidon asked calmly. "Let us hear him out, brother."

Zeus grumbled some more.

"I shall listen." He decided. "Then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast this boy down from Olympus."

"Perseus," Poseidon said. "Look at me."

Percy looked up at his father searching his face for something. Acknowledgement? Acceptance? Respect?

"Address Lord Zeus, boy.", Poseidon told me, "Tell him your story."

Percy told Zeus everything just as it had happened, Harry adding some things occasionally.

Harry took out the metal cylinder, which began sparking in the Sky God's presence, and laid it at Zeus's feet.

There was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the hearth fire.

Zeus opened his palm. The lightning bolt flew into it. As he closed his fist, the metallic points flared with electricity, until he was holding what looked more like the classic thunderbolt, a twenty-foot javelin of arcing, hissing energy that made the hairs on their scalp rise.

"I sense they tell the truth." Zeus muttered. "But that Ares would do such a thing ... it is most unlike him."

"He is proud and impulsive," Poseidon said. "It runs in the family."

"Lord?" Percy asked.

"Yes?" They asked simultaneously, brothers until the end.

"Ares didn't act alone. Someone else-something else-came up with the idea."

Percy described his dreams, and the feeling he had about the being in it.

"In the dreams," Percy spoke, "the voice told me to bring the bolt to the Underworld. Ares hinted that he'd been having dreams, too. I think he was being used, just as I was, to start a war."

"So you are accusing Hades, after all?" Zeus asked.

"No." Percy said, "I mean, Lord Zeus, I've been in the presence of Hades. This feeling was different. It was the same thing I felt when I got close to that pit. That was the entrance to Tartarus, wasn't it? Something powerful and evil is stirring down there ... something even older than the gods."

Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. Harry only caught one word: _Father_.

Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue. Zeus held up his hand angrily. "We will speak of this no more," Zeus said. "I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taint from its metal."

He rose and looked at them. His expression softened just a fraction of a degree. "You have done me a service, children. Few heroes could have accomplished as much."

"We had help, sir," I said. "Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase-"

"To show you my thanks, I shall spare your life. I do not trust you two, Perseus Jackson and Hadrian Potter. I do not like what your arrival means for the future of Olympus. But for the sake of peace in the family, I shall let you live."

"Um ... thank you, sir."

"Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise you shall taste this bolt. And it shall be your last sensation."

Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone.

"My brother," Poseidon sighed, "has always had a flair for dramatic exits. I think he would've done well as the god of theater."

An uncomfortable silence.

"Now that the wet blanket is gone, you can speak freely." He then looked at me and said, "All protocols and customs are dispensed until you leave."

"Sir," Percy said, "what was in that pit?"

Poseidon regarded him. "Have you not guessed?"

"Kronos," Percy said, "The king of the Titans."

Harry winced. Even in the throne room of Olympus, far away from Tartarus, the name Kronos darkened the room, made the hearth fire seem not quite so warm on his back.

Poseidon gripped his trident.

"In the First War, Percy, Zeus cut our father Kronos into a thousand pieces, just as Kronos had done to his own father, Ouranos. Zeus cast Kronos's remains into the darkest pit of Tartarus. The Titan army was scattered, their mountain fortress on Etna destroyed, their monstrous allies driven to the farthest corners of the earth. And yet Titans cannot die, any more than we gods can. Whatever is left of Kronos is still alive in some hideous way, still conscious in his eternal pain, still hungering for power."

"He's healing." Percy said, "He's coming back."

Poseidon shook his head. "From time to time, over the eons, Kronos has stirred. He enters men's nightmares and breathes evil thoughts. He wakens restless monsters from the depths. But to suggest he could rise from the pit is another thing."

"That's what he intends, Father. That's what he said."

Poseidon was silent for a long time.

"Lord Zeus has closed discussion on this matter. He will not allow talk of Kronos. You have completed your quest, child. That is all you need to do."

"Lord Poseidon," Harry said, "If you permit, I will leave and let you catch up with your son." What? He was feeling awkward.

He did not give any sign that he heard him and Harry took that as my cue to leave.

He was five steps away when Poseidon called, "Hadrian."

Harry turned.

"You stood by my son during the difficult times and helped him prove his innocence. For that, you have my thanks." He said.

Harry noticed that he did not mention Annabeth at all. He decided to ignore it.

"Percy is my friend. If he is in trouble, I will help him out." He replied.

That's it. No long drawn out speech. No use of complex terms whose meaning is Merlin knows what. Just a simple statement that conveyed the necessary meaning.

"I am glad to hear that. I know that you have a destiny of your own in your magical society. The colony of mermen in the lake near your school are descendants of my mermen who chose to stay there when we decided to pull out. They don't owe me any allegiance but they do respect me. They will support you in your endeavours as will the Lady of the Lake."

"The Lady of the Lake?" Harry asked surprised.

Poseidon had an amused smile on his face.

"You would have already met her. Celeste was always fond of children," he said wistfully, "From what I've heard, she usually remains in her squid form most of the time."

Harry opened his mouth and closed it back. It at least explained how the friendly, playful squid had managed to survive in the freshwater.

"I am grateful for your generosity and will accept your gift with honour, Lord Poseidon."

With that, he turned and left the throne room.

**-Line Break-**

He walked along the white streets feeling none of the tiredness he had felt on arrival. It seemed the Sun had finally set. As he arrived at the market, two jovial looking blonde guys, who were standing by the lollipop shop, called out to me.

One was short, more elfish, had lighter hair and was dressed like a busy businessman, complete with small rectangular glasses resting on his nose and a bluetooth device in his ear.

The other was tall, tanned and had hair that was kissed by the sun, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, sunglasses hiding his eyes. It seemed that he had just found the perfect antithesis of Snape.

"Look who it is, Hermes." The taller guy said.

"Artie's little boy himself." The other guy replied.

"Hey!" Harry protested. "I'm not little."

"Do you know who we are?" They asked simultaneously.

Harry pointed at the shorter guy and said, "You are the guy who sent Annabeth off to her mother and ignored us."

"Hey! That was not me. It was my assistant. I am the friendly guy." He replied.

"Riiight." Harry deadpanned.

"What about him?" Hermes said pointing at Apollo.

Harry said, "it's my favorite uncle," -Apollo started celebrating childishly- "who is going to buy me lots of chocolates."

He stopped dancing and his smile faded.

"Yes, Apollo. Buy him chocolates. Artemis will not be happy to hear that you left her only son to starve." Hermes said and started laughing.

"Nah! My little sis wouldn't do anything to me. She loves me."

Apollo contradicted his statement a moment later by buying him an ambrosia lollipop and a packet of sweets, not that he was complaining...

It was not the usual sweets found in an ordinary mortal shop. It had high enough nectar to give it the divine taste but low enough that demigods could eat as much as they want with out the fear of burning up.

He kept the packet in my bag and unwrapped the lollipop.

That said and done, Harry asked the something he wanted to know.

"What was my mother like when she was a child?" He asked

"Well..."

What followed were many tales of hunting expeditions the twins undertook from Apollo's point of view. So, naturally, it was skewed in his favour. But, still, it was nice to hear things about his mother that very few people know about. It gave him a strange sense of specialty.

"I guess it is time for you to leave. Your friends seem to have finished their chat." Apollo said.

He was right. Harry saw the two of them coming towards him. They were talking with each other about something, perhaps comparing their talks with their parent.

"All done?" He asked to which they nodded with a smile on their faces.

"Then let's go."

He turned to the gods and said, "It was nice meeting you both. Good bye."

They were soon at Manhattan heading in a taxi. Percy wanted to take a detour to see his mom and Harry and Annabeth obliged. It was good to see him truly happy. On the way, both of them told him about their conversation with their parent.

Apparently, Athena was interested in his and Annabeth's idea and promised her unofficial support. According to her, as long as it remained a mortal endeavour, they would not have to worry about her rivals interfering like the last time.

They soon reached Sally's apartment and Percy rang the doorbell.

The woman which Harry had seen at Hades's gold fire came out looking like she had never been kidnapped at all.

"Percy! Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my baby."

She crushed the air right out of him. Harry had to hold back a snicker, though he did feel _slightly _jealous and guilty for finding this funny. After all, the boy had just got back his kidnapped mother, and Sally was seeing her son after long. He and Annabeth stood in the hallway as she cried and ran her hands through his hair.

Percy was shaking himself, so relieved was he to see her.

They were happy to witness it though Annabeth also seemed slightly jealous.

After their little moment, Percy introduced both Harry and Annabeth to his mother.

She told them she had just appeared at the apartment that morning, scaring Gabe half out of his wits.

She did not remember anything since the Minotaur, and could not believe it when Gabe told her Percy was a wanted criminal, traveling across the country, blowing up national monuments. She had been going out of her mind with worry all day because she had not heard the news. Gabe had forced her to go into work, saying she had a month's salary to make up and she had better get started.

Harry exchanged a look with with Annabeth, his hands clenched. Chiron's sentiments for mortals be damned. He would soon be going to his ancestor the slow and painful way. He was sure he was quite angry right now and would love to have someone related to Percy to take his frustrations out on.

Percy swallowed back his anger and told her our story. He tried to make it sound less scary than it had been but Harry never made it easy for him.

Sally looked at Harry in shock when it came to his claiming.

He was just getting to the fight with Ares when Gabe's voice interrupted from the living room.

"Hey, Sally! That meatloaf done yet or what?"

Sally closed her eyes.

"Just don't make him angrier, alright? Come inside, children."

Harry had to resist the urge to vomit as he entered the apartment. Garbage was ankle deep on the carpet. The sofa had been upholstered in beer cans. Dirty socks and underwear hung off the lampshades.

Gabe and three of his big goon-like friends were playing poker at the table.

When Gabe saw Percy, his cigar dropped out of his mouth in a comical fashion. His face turned the colour of lava.

"You got nerve coming here, you little punk, bringing your idiot friends with you. I thought the police-"

Harry heard the sound of Annabeth gritting her teeth. For a daughter of Athena, 'idiot' was one of the biggest insults.

He grimaced. For all his other faults, Vernon was not an alcoholic or smoker. Atleast, he did not do it in the house.

"He's not a fugitive after all.", Sally interjected, "Isn't that wonderful, Gabe?"

Gabe looked back and forth between them. He didn't seem to think Percy's homecoming was so wonderful.

"Bad enough I had to give back your life insurance money, Sally." He growled.

"Get me the phone. I'll call the cops."

"Gabe, no!"

He raised his eyebrows.

"Did you just say 'no'? You think I'm gonna put up with this punk again? I can still press charges against him for ruining my Camaro."

"But-"

He raised his hand, and Sally flinched. It was then that Harry realized something. Gabe had hit his wife.

Harry felt a large rush of anger. He had always respected women, and it made him very angry to see one being abused. Unbeknownst to him, his forest-green eyes were flashing silver.

Percy made a move, but Harry stopped him. He must have seen something on his face. He did not argue.

"Tell me Gabe." Harry said in a deathly calm voice, "How long have you been hitting your wife?"

"What is it to you if I hit her whenever I felt like it? It's my wife." He said as if being his wife gave him the right to hit her.

That was it. That was the final straw for Harry, and Gabe had snapped it. He walked towards Gabe, not even realizing that the table and other players in the chairs had been pushed to the end of the room. He took out his knife, flipped out his wand, put a strong silencing charm around the house, and stuck Gabe's other friends to their chairs.

He turned to Gabe, who was backing away from him. But he wasn't going to let him go. He _accio_-ed him, and held out a punch for him. It him full-force, and square on the nose. He fell backward, clutching his nose, but Harry was far from done.

He levitated him (Gabe) in front of himself, and looked into his eyes. He saw fear.

Harry slammed him down on the floor-flat on his face, and said, "_Petrificus Totalus_." His arms snapped to his sides, and his legs came together. He shot many hexes at him: the Tickling hex, the Dancing jinx, the Bat-Bogey hex.

After some time, he lifted the hexes. He walked up to him, and said, "That will teach you to respect women. And mark my words, Gabe, if I ever again see or hear or find out you going or went _near_ a woman, you will see this as tickling." He left him body-bound, _levicorpus_-ed him, and shot a hex at him that he wouldn't be able to speak but only tweet like a canary for the next few days.

He turned and undid the silencing charm, then walked toward Gabe friends. He _obliviated _each of them, and then undid the silencing and sticking charms on them. They walked out of the apartment, confused. He fixed the living room just as it was before.

He then turned and walked up to his friends and Sally who were staring at him.

"What? He deserved it."

"Nothing… just remind me to never make you mad," Percy said.

"Of course." Harry replied. He had had people telling him at Hogwarts that he had his mother's (Lily) temper.

After giving Percy some time alone with his mother the three demigods made their way to camp half-blood.

**-Line Break-**

**One more done. Second last of the story. So… did you like Harry's reaction to Gabe?**

**Bye, readers! See you next time. **

**R & R please.**

**Ok so here's a question for all of you: **

**What should I name Harry's weapon?**

**Answer by reviews!**


	7. The Usual, The Hunt, and The Usual Again

**Sorry, I was at my relatives' place. Couldn't update there. It's a kind of village.**

**Anyway, there you go. Last chapter. Enjoy. **

**Thank you to all those who reviewed. **

**DZ2****: I took one of your suggestions for naming the weapon. See in the chapter.**

**No offense to every other person who suggested names!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.**

**-Line Break-**

They were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke's disastrous trip to the Garden of Hesperides. So, naturally, they were treated like celebrities. As per the camp tradition, they wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was beautiful, gray silk with embroidered owls. Harry thought it a shame not to bury her in it. Apparently, Percy thought the same way even if he did not have the sense to keep it to himself. She punched him and told him to shut up.

Percy's shroud was made by Ares cabin, enough said. They had taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle. Percy enjoyed burning it. Harry wondered whether they had just brought it out to mock him. Would they have buried him in it had it been his corpse that had returned? Surely, they would not be that childish and immature. Perhaps, they had made a different one they did not reveal to keep up their tough image or something. Then again, they were the children of Greek gods. Holding grudges might be as easy as breathing.

Harry's shroud was made by the Apollo cabin. It was a simple piece of cloth with no elaborate designs or decorations like the ones Athena kids seem to favour but the beauty was in the simplicity itself. He could see that the material was completely natural but there was something different about the cloth he could not understand.

Harry was glad that it was not the Aphrodite cabin though. _Go figure._

Grover was basking in the attention his new searcher's license was bringing him. The council had given glowing praises of the satyr's performance on the quest so the young protector had no trouble obtaining the license.

That day when Harry retreated to his cabin, he was immediately attacked by a big, white ball of fur. "Hedwig!" He exclaimed happily. She was attacking him furiously. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry, okay!" He said trying to dodge her attacks. After some explaining, Hedwig finally calmed down, though she still was angry with him.

The next day, when Harry returned to his tent in his cabin however, he realised that there was someone waiting for him inside. A girl was sitting cross legged on the ground with a calm look on her face as if she had been meditating. With her auburn hair tied in a high ponytail, pale face and forest-green and silver (in a mix) eyes, her identity was obvious.

"Lady Artemis," Harry greeted her with a bow.

"Be seated, Hadrian. We are not on Olympus." She replied.

"You have done well in your quest, Hadrian. I am proud of you."

"Thank you, mother." Harry replied.

Artemis smiled at him and said, "I have heard a lot about your archery skills. It's time we saw it in action."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Harry asked curiously.

"That's where we are going now, to introduce you to your sisters and vice versa. Don't worry. I already informed Chiron and Dionysus."

Harry gulped. There were many male-hating females in the Hunt.

Artemis seemed to know what he was thinking, because she said, "Worry not. Most of them had been watching you at Hogwarts, on my orders, and all of them quite agree that you are different. Oh, that reminds me, hunt requires cunning, and which I am quite sure you have _much_, why did you pick Gryffindor over Slytherin?"

Harry blushed. "Oh, uh, Hagrid told me all previous dark wizards came from Slytherin, and then I met Malfoy, and he wanted to be in Slytherin. So, I made a pretty stupid assumption, that all Slytherins were like him. And so I asked the hat to put me anywhere but there. I later realized that it was a stupid assumption though."

"I see. If you are ready, then let's go."

**-Line Break-**

Last week was interesting. His mother introduced him to all of her hunters.

The leader of the bunch was a girl named Zoe. She was a tall coppery skinned girl with long braided black hair, upturned nose and volcanic black eyes. She was obviously the oldest among them considering that she still spoke in an archaic version of English.

When people see her eternal scowl on her face and Snape-like bitterness, they might get the wrong notion that she was the worst of the man haters, when in fact, she was more leaning towards neutral. Like his mother, her opinion on males starts at rock bottom but if they prove her wrong, she was not going to lie about it. She told Harry about the Hunters once encountering King Arthur and a few of his Knights and described the legendary King of Camelot as a man worthy of respect. True, there were thousands of heroes in Greece but there was only one King Arthur or, his true name in Welsh, Artus.

From what he could see in the week of his observation, to say that Zoe was well respected would be an understatement. It was as if they could not comprehend someone else being their leader (excluding his mother of course). Good for her, bad for her successor. Unlike Artemis who exuded charisma by simply existing, he could tell that Zoe had shed sweat, blood and tears for every bit of respect and loyalty she had earned.

As for the Hunters themselves, they were a tight-knit unit with a clear hierarchy where everyone had their own role to play. At 49 members, they were not a large group. In fact, Ares cabin and Athena cabin combined had greater numbers. But, their discipline and efficiency made them much more dangerous than their numbers might indicate.

The next interesting person was Phoebe. Her similarities in appearance to Clarisse made it obvious who her father was but Harry had a feeling that it would be better to keep it to himself. As expected, she was the tank of the unit. While it was true that all the Hunters got enhanced speed and strength, the intensity depending on their connection to Artemis, i.e. years of service, the blessing only enhanced what was already there. From what he had heard, Phoebe's physical stats are unreal even for a Hunter of her age.

Then there was Kayla, daughter of Apollo, the Roman god Apollo that is. She was naturally the healer of the group. While all Hunters get enhanced healing and outright regeneration for those old enough, it could be nullified by a potent enough poison or strong enough curse. Her job was to extract the poison or nullify the curse so that the body's innate healing could do its work. She was also responsible for teaching newbies first aid and knowledge of herbs and Harry had the pleasure of being her student for a week now.

There was Poppy, a wood nymph who joined up to escape Dionysus' unwanted sexual advances. The restrictions the wine god had always complained about was placed on him because he continued to pester her even after she joined the Hunters.

There was Naomi, a daughter of Hecate. They got along and even traded a few magic tricks. Unfortunately, her greatest expertise was in potions, something he had no more than rudimentary talent in. He told her so, and Harry learned that all the questions that Snape had asked in his first year were probably not supposed to be taught until he was older except the bezoar one. She also offered to help him, and he agreed, if it was no trouble to her.

There was Cecyln, the daughter of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. She was the unluckiest person Harry had ever seen. She frequently trips over nothing and had all sorts of bizarre accidents ranging from hilarious to ridiculous. How could someone be so accident-prone? Even Neville wasn't that bad. Other hunters, while amused, did not seem surprised indicating that it was a common occurrence. She later told him that her accidents were simply her storing her good luck so that they could be used to get an advantage in life/death scenarios. She did not explain the details and he respected her privacy. It was quite obvious why she left camp.

There were also mortals from different times who had prayed to Artemis for help in a difficult situation and joined up later on.

Harry thought this day would be just like any other but his mother surprised him by taking him somewhere else. That was the first thing he learned was the crash course his mother had dragged him into. In ancient times, all the land in the world existed together as a single land mass. Apparently, the Wild, just like Western Civilisation, was a living force, a collective consciousness of all the living things that are part of it: plants, trees, animals, birds, reptiles. It had continued to remember how it used to be before the water bodies and the man made structures seperated into many pieces. Basically, he could travel from anywhere to anywhere in an instant as long as both the initial and final destinations are within a forest and had the power to go through with it. He decided to call the technique Forest-travel, like his mother told him that children of Hades could do something similar with shadows and it was called Shadow-travel. The power requirement increased depending on how far away the destination was.

Harry learned that he was in Yellow Stone National Park, near the point where the power of the nature was the strongest in America.

His mother taught him to control his and use his nature powers: forest-travelling, nature sensing.

The Hunters arranged a party for his 'graduation'. As a graduation present, they gave him the 'honour' of hunting the food for all of them. He thought present was something they were supposed to give him. Perhaps, they meant graduation test. Naturally, his mother added that he had to do it using only the traditional tracking and hunting skills he was taught. No nature sensing, no magic, not even changing body parts.

He managed to get it done by sundown. The party started the moment Sun set. He didn't know whether it was because it was the result of his hard work or his day long fast, the roasted boar was quite delicious. The party was quite fun with even those who had been withdrawn starting to open up. After the feast was over, Zoe gave him a toast announcing that he had finally gained the necessary skills to be called a Hunter, albeit a 'Novice Hunter' who had just begun his journey. Everyone else followed suit and he sighed knowing that he was stuck with that ridiculous title. Well, all good things had to come to an end which included the party. They cleaned themselves up after and went to sleep.

Next morning, he was packed and ready to go. The Hunters were still asleep but he didn't mind. Hunters and mornings was bad combination. He said goodbye to his mother. Then, to his surprise, she hugged him. He hugged her back, and she said goodbye to him. He forest-travelled to the camp woods.

**-Line Break-**

The next few days Harry got back into his usual training routine, though he was now focusing more on sword-fighting with his shield and spear fighting. It wasn't easy for him, though. He decided he wouldn't use the spear in normal combats. While his throwing was good because of his aim, he was hopeless at close range. He was still learning it though, _just in case_.

He was good at sword-fighting with his shield, though. He hadn't used the shield even once on the entire quest. This would not be the case again.

Harry, along with Annabeth, had confronted Chiron one day about the New Athens proposal, and showed him the laptop. He had immediately paled and asked them to swear on the Styx to never tell anyone about the Roman camp. After they did, Chiron was more relaxed. He told them that the American Civil War was the reason the two camps didn't currently know about each other. It was a war between the Greek and Roman demigods which had caused much destruction. He said yes to the proposal though. And Mr. D, well, he said that as long as it didn't involve him, it didn't matter to him. Annabeth had immediately borrowed his laptop to begin the plans. When she returned it, he could see some apps related to Ancient Greek and Olympian architecture.

Soon it was July 4. The American Independence Day. They gathered at the beach to see the fireworks display in front of Cabin 9. They had anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of the like that Harry had never seen before. According to Annabeth, who had seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors.

As Annabeth, Percy, and Harry were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell them good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.

"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know."

Harry was happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan.

Annabeth gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on.

Percy asked him where he was going to search first.

"Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."

"We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"

"Yeah."

"And you remembered your reed pipes?"

"Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat."

But he didn't really sound annoyed.

He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder.

"Well," he said, "wish me luck."

He gave Annabeth another hug. He clapped Harry and Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes.

Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware.

"Hey, Grover," Percy called.

He turned at the edge of the woods.

"Wherever you're going-I hope they make good enchiladas."

Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him.

"We'll see him again," Annabeth said.

"Yes we will," Harry confirmed.

**-Line Break-**

On July 31st, Percy, Annabeth and all the kids from the Hermes cabin threw a huge birthday party for Harry, it was the best he had ever had. He received a number of gifts. Books on weapons, tactics and martial arts from most of the campers, several magic books from the children of Hecate he'd befriended, a pocket sneakoscope from Ron, and a broom servicing kit from Hermione. He saddened to think of the fact that he would not be able to fly again. _Stupid domain-paranoid sky gods._

But again, he was surprised by a long silvery package waiting for him in his cabin. He unwrapped it and a beautiful silver broom rolled out. It had a long sleek body and was clearly new, as it was very shiny. On the edge was an Ancient Greek inscription: Ασημένιαμύγα. _Asiméniamýga_. Silverfly.

On a note beside it, his mother had written that with some help from Hecate, Zeus wouldn't be able to sense his presence in air as long as he didn't go _too _high, but high enough for him to play Quidditch; along with wishing him a Happy Birthday. Harry had never felt happier in his life.

He spent the rest of his days training, he was much better now in both the spheres he was stressing. When he was stressed out and needed a break, he would fly on his room for sometime and he absolutely enjoyed doing it on his new broom.

During the last bonfire of the summer session the yearly bead for the camper's necklaces which turned out to be a green trident _just_ above the string of a silvery white bow in the shape of a crescent moon; as if the bow was using the trident as an arrow (the string wasn't pulled, mind you).

"The choice was unanimous. This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp in many years and the first-born child of Lady Artemis and the quest they undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war," Luke announced.

Everybody stood up and cheered for the four heroes at that point. Later that day, Percy had a brief encounter with Luke, who as it turned out was the traitor who had summoned the hellhound into the camp and during the battle, he tried to kill the son of Poseidon with a pit scorpion. Percy defeated the pit scorpion though he nearly got himself killed. He informed his friends after he recovered and Harry had to console a tearful Annabeth who didn't want to believe that Luke could do such a thing.

Finally, the end of the summer arrived and the group of friends gathered for goodbyes. Percy was off to enroll for 7th grade and spend some time with his mother. Grover was embarking on his quest to find Pan. Annabeth was going to her family and Harry was off to Hogwarts. Apparently, Annabeth took Harry's advice and wrote to her father and they decided to give it another try.

Harry said goodbye one last time to Annabeth and left for the camp woods. He went a little bit farther into the woods, and forest-travelled to the Forbidden Forest.

**-Line Break-**

As he appeared there, he couldn't help but notice the difference from the usual. The air was certainly colder, and the sky was darker than usual.

He felt a cold, chilling presence behind him and he turned.

The thing was around 6 feet tall wearing a hooded cloak as black as the night that covered everything. It had a depressing aura surrounding it and a smell of decay coming from it. Everything about it seemed to give off the vibe of cold, undead and unnatural.

He drew _Sagittarius _(yes, he finally named his army knife, after a constellation-the Archer, since stars were somewhat included in his mother's domain and since he loved archery), he and flipped out his sword. Just as it began lowering his his hood, Harry sliced it in half. The dementor screeched and vanished into silver dust. His sword turned back to the Swiss knife. Now that Harry noticed it, ever since he had named it, there was an inscription curved around the deer, the curve convexing downward. It was _Sagittarius._

He continued walking through the forest. He stopped when he felt the presence again, though much stronger. He saw a swarm of them making his way towards him their dark robes billowing behind them.

He grinned. He drew _Sagittarius_ and turned it into a bow. This would certainly be a good chance to test his hunting skills his mother had taught hm. He nocked an arrow and drew till it's very end. He aimed at it a dementor's heart and let loose. Let the hunt begin.

**-Line Break-**

**Yep, Lightning Thief complete. Bye, readers!**

**Will post a sequel!**

**R & R please.**


	8. Sequel is UP!

**Yo guys and girls! Just tellin' ya'all that the sequel is up!**

**It's called 'Hadrian Potter: The Sea of Monsters'.**

**Yeah, I know. Kinda obvious, wasn' it?**

**dhairyasood748**** out.**


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